Affective terrains of Assyrian heritage under Daesh

ABSTRACT

The construction and destruction of cultural monuments has long been used by those who hold – or seek to hold – power as a tool to cultivate historical narratives that support their political agendas. Drawing on analysis of Daesh propaganda and semi-structured and oral history interviews with members of the Assyrian community, this article investigates the affective politics of heritage sites and how they have been employed in the governmentality of place and space during conflict. Building on scholarship on landscape and critical heritage studies, it highlights the intersection of temporalities embodied in heritage and how memories and emotion contained in these spaces shape human action. By focusing on the ties between heritage and identity, and how this is exerted and formed within and without state borders in the construction and maintenance of societies, this article explores how heritage extends beyond bounded localities to examine how relationships to heritage cross time and space in the formation of political communities.

KEYWORDS:

• heritage
• terrorism
• Islamic State (ISIS)
• territorial conflict
• iconoclasm
• affect

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would firstly like to thank the Assyrian participants who took the time to share their voices and experiences as part of this project. Thanks also go to Benjamin Isakhan, Dara Conduit and Chloe Skinner for their comments on various iterations of this paper, as well as the editor and four anonymous reviewers for their helpful suggestions. I am also grateful to Ali Mozaffari and David Harvey for organizing the workshop Cultural Stability or Conflict? Border Straddling Heritage in West Asia where this research was first presented, as well as participants on the ASAA/NZ panel Religious Transnational Communities who provided insightful discussion. This research was made possible through a Deakin University Postgraduate Research Scholarship.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 This paper uses the Arabic name of Daesh for the group alternatively known in English as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

2 Dabiq is Daesh’s propaganda magazine. It changed its name to Rumiyah in mid-2016. For both, see https://clarionproject.org/islamic-state-isis-isil-propaganda-magazine-dabiq-50/.

3 This research was conducted in accordance with the ethical standards of the Deakin University Human Research Ethics Committee, Australia.

4 Saba, Marka, interview dated 16 October 2018.

5 Matin, Dohuk, interview dated 5 May 2018.

6 Diana, Marka, interview dated 17 May 2018.

7 Ida, Marka, interview dated 3 September 2018.

8 Maha, Marka, interview dated 3 September 2018.

9 Diana, Marka, interview dated 17 May 2018.

10 Diana, Marka, interview dated 17 May 2018.

11 Mikael, Marka, interview dated 17 May 2018.

12 Matin, Dohuk, interview dated 5 May 2018.

13 Adam, Erbil, interview dated 10 May 2018.

14 Ninweta, Dohuk, interview dated 19 May 2018.

15 Matin, Dohuk, interview dated 5 May 2018.

16 Sarah, Hasakah, interview dated 25 April 2018.