Omar Dewachi on Iraq
Omar Dewachi, an anthropologist who was an Iraqi physician during the Gulf War, has published an article from his forthcoming book, which is entitled “When Wounds Travel: Ecologies…
Tag: Iraq
Mesopotamian Potluck
If you are bored with what you cook, give this rather ancient set of recipes a try. Read all about it on the MyMet website.
The ISIS Flag Hoax
A fascinating commentary by Ahmed El Shamsy on the ISIS flag logo as a hoax from a 19th century forged letter attributed to Muhammad. Check it out here.
Baghdad in the 19th Century
A richly illustrated book in French from 1887 on Iraq and Persia has an incredible number of illustrations. The book can be downloaded here. I attach some of…
Online Books in Halle
At least 337 Books published in Germany on Islam and history of the Middle East are available to read online or download. Most are in German but a…
Recovering Iraqi Heritage
The site DNYUZ has an article on the restoration of stolen artifacts from Iraq being found and returned.
Varisco on the Baghdadi Ratl
On Thursday, July 8 , 2021 (4 pm Berlin time, 10 am New York time) I will be giving an online presentation on my search for the metric…
Baghdad and Iraq in 1901
The British traveler Sir Edgar Collins Boehm was one of many travelers up the Persian Gulf and elsewhere more than a century ago. His narrative is rather meager,…
Baghdad Postcards #2
Here are several early 20th century postcards showing life in and around Baghdad.
Baghdad Postcards #1
Baghdad was featured in a number of early 20th century postcards. Several of these were printed by A.a.K Naman… Here are images of two of Baghdad’s mosques.
Picturing the “Enemy”
My friend Karim Ben Khelifa, an award-winning photographic journalist who I met over a decade ago, has produced an extraordinary film (“The Enemy”) on his experience as a…
Divided Collectives. Identity and Its Discontents in Samir’s Baghdad In My Shadow
A progressive “identity politics” pursued in the name of resistance to nationalist retrenchment depends on the mobilization of various disparate “collective identities” around a common aim. But what…
The turbulent life of the British School of Archaeology in Iraq
Launched in 1932 the school has spent almost a century uncovering Iraq’s ancient treasures, including the spectacular Assyrian capital at Nimrud On a dark November day in 1929,…
The turbulent life of the British School of Archaeology in Iraq
Launched in 1932 the school has spent almost a century uncovering Iraq’s ancient treasures, including the spectacular Assyrian capital at Nimrud On a dark November day in 1929,…
On the Iraq border archaeological digs are a minefield – in every sense
At the ancient site of Charax Spasinou, military activity has left an indelible mark. Should it be viewed as modern damage – or as an important record of…
On the Iraq border archaeological digs are a minefield – in every sense
At the ancient site of Charax Spasinou, military activity has left an indelible mark. Should it be viewed as modern damage – or as an important record of…
How ancient lentils reveal the origins of social inequality
Lentils might not sound like a spectacular archaeological find but at the prehistoric site of Gurga Chiya in Iraqi Kurdistan they hold the clues to social transformation I…
How ancient lentils reveal the origins of social inequality
Lentils might not sound like a spectacular archaeological find but at the prehistoric site of Gurga Chiya in Iraqi Kurdistan they hold the clues to social transformation Related:…
Castle of the Sealand kings: Discovering ancient Iraq’s rebel rulers
British and Iraqi archaeologists identify the first known settlement built under the enigmatic Sealand kings The Kings of the Sealand sound like they come straight out of a…
Decolonization is political action, not an act of historical circumstance.
As an archaeologist who is invested in the project of decolonization, I admit to being wary of its overuse within anthropological discourse to such a degree that it…
Donald Trump, Empire, and Globalization: A Reassessment
“Hey, I’m a nationalist and a globalist,” Donald Trump recently declared, “I’m both”. The only way in which the two (seemingly contradictory) positions can be reconciled is by…
In the field with Iraq’s archaeologists of the future
Working in Kurdistan at the site of Qalatga Darband, The British Museum is training Iraqi archaeologists to preserve and study their country’s threatened heritage Iraqi Kurdistan is spectacularly…
The Stories We Tell about Resettlement: Refugees, Asylum and the #MuslimBan
By: Nadia El-Shaarawi As a volunteer legal advocate working with refugees who were seeking resettlement, I learned to ask detailed questions about persecution. These were the kind of…
A practical guide for Iraqis living in Trump’s USA – or in the Gentile North in general
By: Hayder Al-Mohammad My fellow Iraqis. We are living under unheard of pressures and violence against us. Those of us who carry an Iraqi passport will have experienced…