The Multidirectional Memory of Iraqi Holocaust: A Study of Yazidi Genocide in Dunia Mikhail’s The Bird Tattoo

Abstract

The present study examines Dunia Mikhail’s The Bird Tattoo (2023) as trauma fiction that contributes to the concept of memory in trauma studies. The study argues that Mikhail’s novel brings to the fore a history of subjugation and victimization inscribed upon the historical body of Sinjar and Nineveh’s memory like a tattoo. It further argues that The Bird Tattoo’s representation of different stories of suffering functions as a reflection of Michael Rothberg’s concept of multidirectional memory, which effectively features colonial trauma studies. This argument is discussed alongside the poetics that the novelist in question relies heavily upon to project the bloody and overwhelming genocide committed by ISIS against Iraqi inhabitants during its terrorist existence in Nineveh during and after 2014. According to this context, the study aims to answer the following questions: how does Mikhail weave a coherent narrative structure in which raw materials are fueled by bloody conflict; and what is the function of such trauma fiction? These questions are answered through a critical approach that scrutinizes the aspects of colonial trauma with reference to the content and form of The Bird Tattoo.