Somehow, in being far from typical, Shermeen H.A. Qaralousi manages to reveal a lot about her country. She is a manic mix of Iraq’s varied, often competing, strains.
Starting with ethnicity–she is a Kurd, but one of a small percentage of Shiite Muslim Kurds. She also has Turkmen grandparents, representing another small patch in the country’s ethnic quilt. She speaks Kurdish, Arabic, some Turkish, some French and very good English, which she learned in school and by watching Western movies.
She wants more rights for Iraqi women, but started wearing a headscarf lately after people gave her a hard time on the college campus where she works. She grew up in a Christian neighborhood and, as a 6-year-old, she told a teacher she was Christian. Her parents went to school to clarify that. Now, like most Iraqi Shiites, she reveres Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani, their spiritual leader.
She craves contact with the world outside Iraq–like a lot of women here, a little out of step with their native land. The only time she left it was during last year’s war, when her family sought safety over the border in Iran. She is glad the Americans are here but, like many Iraqis, she finds it all a bit overwhelming.
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“Now when you go to the store, there are 50 kinds of meat, they come from abroad and it’s hard to know what to choose,” she says.
Qaralousi, 23, works at Baghdad’s prestigious Mustansiriyah University, hosting foreign delegations and working on scholarships for students to study abroad. A graduate of a high school for gifted children, she says she got the job because she was No. 2 in her graduating college class last year. Of about 500 graduates, she says, only about three have landed jobs. A friend works in the office for free, hoping it will lead to paid work.
Baghdad today is a tough place for a young college graduate to stand out and Qaralousi commands attention. Her long curly hair is covered with a blue scarf now, highlighting her moon-shaped face. She wears four gold bracelets and a necklace with the Arabic word for “Allah” in gold. “Kurds love gold,” she explains.
But these are dangerous times and she takes off the gold when she ventures outside because of concerns about thieves. A woman in her building just lost a brother, shot by U.S. troops at a checkpoint. Another woman in her office lost a cousin when he went after thieves and troops opened fire.
Just a couple months ago, Qaralousi routinely met visitors, including foreign journalists, without her headscarf. Though it is common for students to go uncovered, her work with foreigners prompted rude remarks from some men. At the urging of her mother, she started wearing the scarf.
She might have started wearing it on her own, but did not want to do so under pressure. “I am upset because I faced problems,” she says. “I wanted to wear it without [facing] problems.”
A literature student, one of her favorite books is Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet Letter.” She blames women for being dependent on men but still wants men to hold the door for her.
Clearly, she is still figuring herself out. She hopes her eclectic make up will eventually be an advantage in figuring out her future.
“It just gives me many options,” she says.