Podcast Summary: New Books Network Episode: Zainab Saleh, "Political Undesirables: Citizenship, Denaturalization, and Reclamation in Iraq" (Stanford UP, 2025)
Date: January 24, 2026
Host: Turul Mende
Guest: Professor Zainab Saleh

Episode Overview

This episode features an in-depth conversation with anthropologist Zainab Saleh about her new book, Political Undesirables: Citizenship, Denaturalization, and Reclamation in Iraq. The discussion explores the intricate history of citizenship, statelessness, and expulsion in modern Iraqi history—particularly focusing on the experiences of Iraqi Jews and Iraqis of Iranian origin. Saleh draws on archival research, interviews, and personal experience to illuminate the lived consequences of state-led denaturalization, the weaponization of citizenship, and the ongoing efforts of affected communities to reclaim their sense of belonging.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Personal & Scholarly Background

[01:43]

• Saleh shares her personal connection to the subject, growing up in Iraq and witnessing the sudden disappearance of neighbors labeled as Iraqis of Iranian origin.
• Her scholarly focus centers on migration, displacement, colonialism, and citizenship law.

“I would say I'm a scholar of migration, displacement, colonialism, and the citizenship law.”
— Zainab Saleh [01:47]

2. Why Focus on Iraqi Jews and Iraqis of Iranian Origin?

[02:42]

• Saleh’s childhood recollections—neighbors being expelled, stories from her mother, and the legacy of Jewish presence in Iraq—inspired her focus on these groups.
• The expulsion of Iraqi Jews (1950-51) and Iraqis of Iranian origin (1980) were large-scale, state-driven acts involving property confiscation, violence, loss of livelihoods, and ruptured social ties.
• Other instances of denaturalization in Iraq usually targeted individuals, not entire communities.

“Citizenship is not really a guaranteed right, that it is something… tied to the state. Even, like, of course, now I'm saying that, like, When I was 8 years old or 7 years old, I didn't have these thoughts, but… I understood, like, really, citizenship is something that can be taken away from people.”
— Zainab Saleh [04:37]

3. Family Memories & the Social Impact of Expulsion

[09:27]

• Saleh discusses how her family explained and processed the disappearance of neighbors and the precarity imposed by citizenship laws tracing back to Ottoman rule.
• She describes social and familial dilemmas, such as the return of expelled neighbors who had to become regime informants or face statelessness and discrimination in Iran.

“If you lose your citizenship or if you want to keep your citizenship, then you have to really make awful compromises with the government... They were faced with an impossible position, and people cannot judge them because no one knows what they would have done had they been in their shoes.”
— Zainab Saleh [15:28]

4. Legal Framework: Denaturalization, Citizenship, and Reclamation

[16:41]

• Iraqi citizenship laws, initially drafted under British auspices, embedded mechanisms that enabled systematic stripping of citizenship.
• Discourse justifying denaturalization has consistently depicted targeted groups as “foreigners” or “threats to national security”—a pattern found not only in Iraq but globally.
• Saleh highlights the “weaponization of citizenship” but also the resilience of denaturalized communities in maintaining their sense of belonging through language, culture, and memory.

“For me, this book is about two things. One is about the weaponization of citizenship and… conditions of precarity for people. But… citizens can assert their own forms of belonging... that’s where reclamation becomes important.”
— Zainab Saleh [24:19]

5. Archival and Oral Research Approach

[25:39]

• Saleh conducted archival research at the Library of Congress, the British Library, the National Archives (UK), and the Hoover Institute (Ba'ath archives).
• Discoveries included how small administrative distinctions—like the letter indicating Ottoman or Persian origin on a citizenship certificate—enabled decades-later mass denaturalization.
• Oral histories, memoirs, and interviews with both communities in exile offered essential perspectives, especially given the lack of records on Iraqis of Iranian origin.

“In the 80s, Saddam Hussein used this distinction to say, all Iraqis who had the letter B on their citizenship are of Iranian origin and will be expelled. So that… was the interesting thing about the archives...”
— Zainab Saleh [30:49]

6. Differences in Documentation and Memory

[33:21]

• Iraqi Jewish experiences are well-documented due to higher access to education and earlier displacement; in contrast, experiences of Iraqis of Iranian origin remain understudied and scattered, partly due to social exclusion and lack of accessible records.

7. Future Research Directions

[35:30]

• Saleh expresses the enormity of comprehensively documenting the expulsion of Iraqis of Iranian origin (“a mammoth task that many scholars need to take on rather than one person”).
• She is currently working on an edited volume, Living Iraq: Political Imagination, Land and Law, which centers lived experiences in Iraq’s modern history.
• Her next major project will analyze the commemoration of the 2003 US invasion of Iraq in American mainstream media, focusing on shifts in discourse as anniversaries progress.

“In 2023… the memory of the invasion was rewritten and the invasion was sanitized within 20 years. So that's the project and it will detail really just using mainstream media… analyze discourses about the invasion at different during different anniversaries.”
— Zainab Saleh [41:49]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Citizenship is a privilege tied to the state, rather than a guaranteed right.” [16:41]
• “I realized that… certificate of citizenship… had in them certain clauses that paved the… path to denaturalization in the future.” [29:10]
• “The experience of Iraqi Jews… [is] highly documented and researched… with the case of Iraqis of Iranian origin, unfortunately… there is such a dearth in the literature.” [32:28]
• “These topics can be sensitive and no one knows where the archives are kept or if there are any archives kept.” [36:21]

Key Timestamps for Important Segments

• Introduction & Personal Story: [01:43]–[04:37]
• Why Iraqi Jews and Iraqis of Iranian Origin: [02:42]–[08:50]
• Legal & Social Aspects of Denaturalization: [09:27]–[16:41]
• Frameworks of Exclusion (Legal & Rhetorical): [16:41]–[25:01]
• Archival & Oral Research: [25:39]–[35:10]
• Understudied Histories & Future Work: [35:30]–[42:16]

Tone and Language

The episode maintains a reflective, analytical, and empathetic tone, balancing scholarly rigor with personal testimony. Saleh’s explanations are accessible and often deeply moving—grounded equally in archival documentation and lived experience. The host prompts thoughtfully, allowing Saleh to expand on both structural and intimate aspects of the topic.

Conclusion

This episode offers an illuminating exploration of how Iraqi citizenship laws—rooted in colonial legacies and perpetuated through state rhetoric—have enabled the systematic exclusion and silencing of whole communities. Saleh’s research demonstrates how the struggle for belonging and identity persists across generations, resisting official categories and refusing erasure. The conversation stands out for its attention to the humanity behind historical trauma, the ongoing gaps in scholarship, and the urgent need for fuller reckoning with Iraq’s tangled history of inclusion and exclusion.