Local voices on heritage: Understanding community perceptions towards archaeological sites in South Iraq

ABSTRACT

Community engagement is now a consolidated and essential part of many archaeological research projects. In particular, it is widely recognized as a powerful tool for laying the foundation for any community archaeology programme. This paper explores the perceptions of a community living North-East of the city of Kufa (Iraq) towards the archaeological sites and cultural heritage in general. In particular, we designed an action-oriented research consisting of interviews and focus groups conducted between 2017 and 2019 at selected sites. The multifaceted picture that emerges from this research allows to better understand the relationships between the different actors revolving around the archaeological sites. The objective is to assess the awareness and understanding of the significance of its cultural heritage by the local community, and consequently propose recommendations including actions aimed at better safeguarding and communicating the archaeological sites.

KEYWORDS:

• Community engagement
• archaeological sites
• South Iraq
• qualitative ethnographic methods
• heritage narratives

Acknowledgements

This research has been conducted in the frame of the EU-funded EuropeAid project ‘EDUU – Education and Cultural Heritage Enhancement for Social Cohesion in Iraq’ http://www.eduu.unibo.it (EuropeAid CSOLA/2016/382-631) coordinated by Nicolò Marchetti at the University of Bologna to whom goes our gratitude for his support and advice. The Land of Kufa survey project is a joint undertaking of the Universities of Koç Istanbul, Bologna and Kufa and is directed by Çiğdem Maner with Alaa Al-Lami and Federico Zaina as co-directors. Thanks are due to Alaa Al-Lami, Ryam Hussein Al-Rubaieh and Hayder Al-Hamdany, from the University of Kufa for their support to our field anthropological research. The friendly and unfailing cooperation of the director of the seat of the State Board of Antiquities and Heritage in Kufa, Mohammed Beden Al Mayali and the other colleagues from the SBAH in Kufa and Baghdad is here gratefully acknowledged. We are also grateful to the personnel of the local authorities, the guest house of the University of Kufa, the professors from the Faculty of Archaeology of the University of Kufa and the many friends in Kufa for their warm reception and constant support.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by EU-funded EuropeAid project 'EDUU - Education and Cultural Heritage Enhancement for Social Cohesion in Iraq' [grant number CSOLA/2016/382-631].

Notes on contributors

Federico Zaina

Federico Zaina is Research Fellow in the Department of History and Cultures (DiSCi) at the University of Bologna. He hold a PhD in Archaeology from the Sapeinza – Univeristy of Rome and the University of Paris 1 – Sorbonne. He has participated in archaeological excavations projects in Italy, Albania, Syria, Turkey and Iraq. He has been a member of international research projects including the EU-funded projects Joint Initiative Program on Cultural Heritage (JPI CH) ‘Heritage and Threat (HeAT)’, the Erasmus+ Capacity Building KA 2 projects Waladu and Banuu and the EuropeAid project Eduu. His research interests include Iron Age Syro-Anatolian material culture, Bronze Age landscapes of southern Mesopotamia and cultural heritage at risk.

Licia Proserpio

Licia Proserpio started her PhD in Global Histories, Cultures, and Politics at the Department of History and Cultures of the Alma Mater Studiorum – University of Bologna in 2018 after working for several years at the International Relation Office (IRO) of the same University. As IRO officer, she managed different educational and research EU-funded projects mainly involving universities in Middle East (including Iraq), Russia and Asia. Anthropologist by training (BA and MA), she is now focusing her research on social movements in South East Asia, Myanmar in particular, and on Higher Education policies.

Giulia Scazzosi

Giulia Scazzosi currently works at the Development Office (fundraizing and partnership) of the National Museum of Science and Technology Leonardo da Vinci (Milan). She also collaborates with The World Bank Group as a Consultant, expert of cultural heritage. She holds a PhD in Archaeology from the University of Pavia and has worked on numerous archaeological excavation projects in Italy, Turkey and Iraq. As a member of the EuropeAid Eduu project her tasks focused on training in cultural heritage for Iraqi researchers, creating of an e-learning course on museums and designing the scientific concept of a museum to be opened soon in the south of Iraq.