Cultural (dis)continuity, political trajectories and the state in post – 2003 Iraq

ABSTRACT

Cultural continuity and the political trajectories of states are intimately intertwined. What happens to state institutions, how they are transformed through the interventions of external and domestic actors, affects heritage and its continuity in myriad ways. This paper looks at heritage in relation to the state and sites of power through the prism of cultural continuity, which can offer a more nuanced and historical perspective of the field of heritage in situations of change, transformation and conflict. It examines the repercussions of Iraq’s political system based on political quotas installed under the occupation of Iraq, where state institutions, including those of heritage, are allocated as electoral windfalls to competing political groups. The ensuing institutional disorder, absence of centralised rule and multiplicity of overlapping power structures in the country have detrimentally affected the conditions of Iraq’s heritage. International heritage interventions too have been largely ineffective in the face of the catastrophic damage inflicted on the sector since 2003. I argue that the fragmentation of state institutions and on the other hand a weak international heritage infrastructure, concerned mainly with its own priorities, has left Iraq’s heritage in a perpetual state of crisis that has not been addressed in any meaningful way.

KEYWORDS:

• Iraq
• heritage
• occupation
• state
• culture

Acknowledgments

The author gratefully acknowledges the constructive support provided by two blind reviewers of the journal and the interviewees for their time and patience.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

This research was made possible by the Nahrein Network, a research project based at University College London and supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and Global Challenges Research Fund [project award grant 175324].

Notes on contributors

Mehiyar Kathem

Mehiyar Kathem is Research Associate and Co-ordinator for the Nahrein Network, a project based at University College London's History Department which works to strengthen Iraq's and its neighbours cultural and heritage infrastructure (www.ucl.ac.uk/nahrein). Since 2017, he has worked to strengthen research collaborations and partnerships between UK and Iraqi universities and academics, particularly in the field of heritage and education. Dr Kathem completed his doctoral research at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) where he researched the formation of Iraq's NGO sector and statebuilding after the Iraq War.