In this paper, I examine the construction of a civic identity in the city of Kirkuk, Iraq over the course of the twentieth century, both by its communities and by external forces, as well as the ways in which a Kirkuki civic identity has become central to ethnopolitical discourses in the present day. I argue that the emergence of a distinct modern Kirkuki identity arose in part from a growing sense of Kirkuk’s economic importance as a result of the presence of the oil industry beginning in the early to mid-twentieth century. This notion, along with a developing interest in Kirkuk’s history, preceded the salience of ethnic nationalisms in the city. Various ethnic groups then came to draw on Kirkuki civic identity as an integral feature of their political narratives, continuing to do so in the context of Kirkuk’s present-day crisis. This study of multiple discourses of civic identity in an Iraqi city contributes to a fuller understanding of the forms that public discourse took and continues to take in the modern Iraqi state. I will first examine the eras of British control and influence in Kirkuk during and after the British mandate in Iraq, as well as the concurrent growth of the British-led Iraq Petroleum Company. During this time period, the concept of Kirkuk as Iraq’s “oil city” or “city of black gold” emerged as a key component of British-led discourses that formed an important part of the development of a discrete Kirkuki identity. I will then analyze the aftermath of the Iraqi revolution of 1958, when Kirkuk’s Kurdish and Turkmen communities fell into a pattern of intercommunal violence rooted in competition for authority within the city. At that time, some Kurds and Turkmens—both inside and outside of Kirkuk—began to articulate ethnopolitical narratives in which Kirkuk was a central element. I will conclude by observing how, in the twenty-first century dispute over Kirkuk, Iraqis of many ethnic and civic origins have continued to assert Kirkuk’s importance as a symbol for a variety of group identities. This paper draws on a variety of published sources relevant to Kirkuk in Arabic, including works by scholars from Kirkuk and its surrounding region; articles and other materials from the Arabic-language Iraq Petroleum Company magazine, Ahl al-Naft; and archival sources from the National Archives of the United Kingdom and the BP Archive.