In this article I examine how immigrant Iraqi women navigate British society in Kingston upon Hull and the implications for both the host society and migrants. I investigate the formation of the diasporic community to measure the impact of this cultural resettlement and the redefining of social values. Besides being subjected to constraints based on their ethnic origins as Middle Easterners, the women also faced discrimination because of their mode of dress. Therefore, they mobilised other intersecting aspects of their identities to manipulate ethnic classification in the hope of distancing themselves from others using the strategy of othering to attain acknowledgement from British society. The questions are: what part of their past are they still holding on to, and what have they changed to adapt to their new ‘homes’? Do they consider Britain as their permanent home? And what are their strategies of othering? By examining a small slice of the Iraqi community in Hull, I attempt to conceptualise the identities of these women in terms of their relationships and the reality of their presence in Hull.

Keywords: identity, Iraqis, Muslims, intersectionality, women, integration