Personal Narrative Analysis

Adam-Scott Green
WST 3015
Nina Perez
April 5, 2010

Riverbend's Perspective

Riverbend is affected by the US declaration of war in Iraq after September 11, 2001. Her blog reveals a personal narrative, a unique first hand account of Iraqi culture and wartime life. I would classify Riverbend’s blog as feminist, personal, political, and educational.

In America, ideas about Iraqi people are usually negative and mythical. Our news sources sensationalize Iraqi life, glorifying the war. Narrating the truth through her own eyes, Riverbend humanizes, clarifies, and politicizes the voice of an Iraqi woman. Her blog is important because she is tragically living the effects of war, “including the killing of soldiers, the trauma of experiencing or witnessing destruction, torture or rap; physically injuries and disabilities and post-traumatic stress disorders, the chaos of every day life, with hunger and loss of home, family, and livelihood” (Kirk 504). Educating us, many of her posts are clear diary descriptions of these effects. She writes about the normalization of gunshots, loss of electricity, and the unfortunate lifestyle changes she is forced to endure because of the war.

As an example of feminist action in the Global Women’s Movement, Riverbend’s blog also “recognizes the ways in which the ideology of patriarchy constrains and diminishes the achievement of laudable goals and objectives and engages in the struggle to challenge it” (Antrobus 632). As an Iraqi woman, we can identify the constraints of patriarchy as the violence surrounding her called war. Not only is her blog a tragic diary, but because the “personal is political,” her blog challenges narrow Western minded thinking, false stereotypes, and oppressive politics. Particularly in her blog she provides an anti-war argument; she expresses her fury with her government’s decision to reform secular laws to traditional religious and oppressive values; and she engages in active discussion to break down false stereotypes. She is poised in a unique position to utilize personal expression to educate and change the world.

One of the purposes of RIverbend’s blog is to break down the distorted myths we have assumed about Iraqi people.

Generally speaking, the myths about Iraqi people usually include that they are wicked or religious fanatics, living oppressed in a corrupt government, and lacking modern education or sophistication. Americans imagine Iraqi life as far removed from “American” or humane values. In the same way, we have “other-ed” the Iraqi people as the enemy of our national sense of freedom. We imagine Iraqis as less civilized, and desperate for American salvation

For example, Riverbend gives a contrast to the “myth” about Iraqi people in her blog post on Monday, September 29, 2003. This post is a response to a New York Times article entitled, “Iraqi Family Ties Complicate American Efforts to Change.” This article, written by John Tierney is a prime example of America’s misunderstanding of the Iraqi people. Tierney poses a myth about Iraqi life, “stating that because Iraqis tend to marry cousins, they’ll be less likely to turn each other in to American forces for allsorts of reasons that all lead back to nepotism” (Riverbend). In other words, one of America’s most reputable news sources reports that Iraqi people are marrying their cousins and insists that this family dynamic is a risk to our national security. We continue to trivialize Iraqi culture in a Western context, distorting the truth to de-humanize and debase Iraqi people. Riverbend deconstructs this myth in her blogpost on September 29, 2003. She explains that “marrying cousins is out of style, and not very popular in Iraq, and that the definition of a cousin in many smaller Iraqi cities and provinces, dominated by 4 or 5 huge ‘tribes’ or ‘clans’ naturally includes anyone who is not an immediate family member.” Riverbend fills in the gaps of our assumptions and misguided myths of Iraqi family life by illustrating a context of the truth.

Her blog is a symbolic voice of truth among the many lies and myths about her culture.






Antrobus, Peggy. "The Global Women's Movement. Women's Lives: Multicultural Perspectives. 5th Ed.New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010. 629-636.
Riverbend. "Sheikhs and Tribes." Web log post. Baghdad Burning. Blogger, 29 September. 2003. Web. 4 Apr. 2010.
"Women and the Military, War, and Peace." Women's Lives: Multicultural Perspectives. 5th Ed.New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010. 493-510.