Volume 11 - Number 4 June – July 2015 £4 TTHISHIS ISSUEISSUE: IIRAQRAQ – PeoplePeople andand HeritageHeritage ● TThehe rriseise aandnd ffallall ofof tthehe nnationation ● TThehe KKurdsurds aandnd ISISISIS ● TThehe YYezidisezidis ofof SinjarSinjar ● TThehe aartificertifice ofof tthehe destructiondestruction ofof aartrt iinn IIraqraq ● OObliteratingbliterating Iraq’sIraq’s ChristianChristian heritageheritage ● NNimrudimrud reducedreduced toto rubblerubble ● IInterviewnterview wwithith SSaadaad al-Jadiral-Jadir ● SSupportingupporting humanitieshumanities andand cultureculture forfor a sustainablesustainable IraqIraq ● PPLUSLUS RReviewseviews aandnd eventsevents iinn LondonLondon Volume 11 - Number 4 June – July 2015 £4 TTHISHIS IISSUESSUE: IIRAQRAQ – PeoplePeople andand HHeritageeritage ● TThehe rriseise aandnd ffallall ofof tthehe nnationation ● TThehe KKurdsurds aandnd IISISSIS ● TThehe YYezidisezidis ooff SSinjarinjar ● TThehe aartificertifice ooff tthehe ddestructionestruction ofof aartrt iinn IIraqraq ● OObliteratingbliterating Iraq’sIraq’s CChristianhristian heritageheritage ● NNimrudimrud rreducededuced ttoo rrubbleubble ● IInterviewnterview wwithith SSaadaad aal-Jadirl-Jadir ● SSupportingupporting hhumanitiesumanities aandnd cultureculture fforor a ssustainableustainable IIraqraq ● PPLUSLUS RReviewseviews aandnd eeventsvents iinn LLondonondon Athier, Man Of War VIII. 175 X 190. Acrylic on canvas Courtesy of Ayyam Gallery About the London Middle East Institute (LMEI) © Athier Th e London Middle East Institute (LMEI) draws upon the resources of London and SOAS to provide Volume 11 - Number 4 teaching, training, research, publication, consultancy, outreach and other services related to the Middle June – July 2015 East. It serves as a neutral forum for Middle East studies broadly defi ned and helps to create links between individuals and institutions with academic, commercial, diplomatic, media or other specialisations. Editorial Board With its own professional staff of Middle East experts, the LMEI is further strengthened by its academic Professor Nadje Al-Ali SOAS membership – the largest concentration of Middle East expertise in any institution in Europe. Th e LMEI also Dr Hadi Enayat has access to the SOAS Library, which houses over 150,000 volumes dealing with all aspects of the Middle AKU East. LMEI’s Advisory Council is the driving force behind the Institute’s fundraising programme, for which Ms Narguess Farzad it takes primary responsibility. It seeks support for the LMEI generally and for specifi c components of its SOAS programme of activities. Mrs Nevsal Hughes Association of European Journalists LMEI is a Registered Charity wholly owned by SOAS, University of London (Charity Registration Dr George Joff é Number: 1103017). Cambridge University Ms Janet Rady Janet Rady Fine Art Mission Statement: Mr Barnaby Rogerson Ms Sarah Searight British Foundation for the Study Th e aim of the LMEI, through education and research, is to promote knowledge of all aspects of the Middle of Arabia East including its complexities, problems, achievements and assets, both among the general public and with Dr Kathryn Spellman-Poots those who have a special interest in the region. In this task it builds on two essential assets. First, it is based in AKU and LMEI London, a city which has unrivalled contemporary and historical connections and communications with the Dr Sarah Stewart SOAS Middle East including political, social, cultural, commercial and educational aspects. Secondly, the LMEI is Mrs Ionis Th ompson at SOAS, the only tertiary educational institution in the world whose explicit purpose is to provide education Saudi-British Society and BFSA and scholarship on the whole Middle East from prehistory until today. Dr Shelagh Weir Independent Researcher Professor Sami Zubaida Birkbeck College Coordinating Editor LMEI Staff: SSubscriptions:ubscriptions: Megan Wang Director Dr Hassan Hakimian To subscribe to Th e Middle East in London, please visit: Listings Executive Offi cer Louise Hosking www.soas.ac.uk/lmei/affi liation/ Vincenzo Paci Events and Magazine Coordinator Vincenzo Paci Designer Administrative Assistant Valentina Zanardi Shahla Geramipour Letters to the Editor: Th e Middle East in London is published fi ve times a year by the London Middle East Institute at SOAS Please send your letters to the editor at Disclaimer: the LMEI address provided (see left panel) Publisher and or email [email protected] Editorial Offi ce Opinions and views expressed in the Middle East Th e London Middle East Institute in London are, unless otherwise stated, personal SOAS University of London views of authors and do not refl ect the views of their MBI Al Jaber Building, 21 Russell organisations nor those of the LMEI and the MEL's LONDON Square, London WC1B 5EA United Kingdom Editorial Board. Although all advertising in the MIDDLE EAST T: +44 (0)20 7898 4490 magazine is carefully vetted prior to publication, the F: +44 (0)20 7898 4329 LMEI does not accept responsibility for the accuracy INSTITUTE E: [email protected] www.soas.ac.uk/lmei/ of claims made by advertisers. ISSN 1743-7598 Contents LMEI Board of Trustees 4 19 Professor Paul Webley (Chair) EDITORIAL Pasts and futures entwined: Director, SOAS supporting humanities and Professor Richard Black, SOAS Dr John Curtis 5 culture for a sustainable Iraq Iran Heritage Foundation INSIGHT Eleanor Robson Sir Vincent Fean Iraq: the rise and fall of the Professor Ben Fortna, SOAS nation 21 Mr Alan Jenkins Sami Zubaida REVIEWS Dr Karima Laachir, SOAS BOOKS Dr Dina Matar, SOAS Dr Barbara Zollner 7 Th e Rise of Islamic State: ISIS Birkbeck College IRAQ and the New Sunni Revolution Th e Kurds and ISIS Barnaby Rogerson LMEI Advisory Council Hamit Bozarslan 22 Lady Barbara Judge (Chair) 9 Contemporary Art from Professor Muhammad A. S. Abdel Haleem Near and Middle East Department, SOAS Th e Yezidis of Sinjar: the the Middle East: Regional H E Khalid Al-Duwaisan GVCO Ambassador, Embassy of the State of Kuwait aft ermath of catastrophe Interactions with Global Art Mrs Haifa Al Kaylani Christine Allison Discourse Arab International Women’s Forum Pamela Karimi Dr Khalid Bin Mohammed Al Khalifa President, University College of Bahrain 11 Professor Tony Allan King’s College and SOAS Th e artifi ce of the destruction 23 Dr Alanoud Alsharekh of art in Iraq BOOKS IN BRIEF Senior Fellow for Regional Politics, IISS Charles Tripp Mr Farad Azima NetScientifi c Plc 24 Dr Noel Brehony MENAS Associates Ltd. 13 OBITUARY Professor Magdy Ishak Hanna Obliterating Iraq’s Christian Leila Ingrams (1940-2015) British Egyptian Society heritage Th anos Petouris HE Mr Mazen Kemal Homoud Ambassador, Embassy of the Hashemite Erica C D Hunter Kingdom of Jordan 25 15 EVENTS IN LONDON Founding Patron and Nimrud reduced to rubble Donor of the LMEI Sheikh Mohamed Bin Issa Al Jaber John Curtis MBI Al Jaber Foundation 17 Mosul’s music and rich cultural heritage Nadje Al-Ali June – July 2015 The Middle East in London 3 EEDITORIALDITORIAL © Athier DDearear RReadereader Athier, A New Kind Of Machine 1. 200 x 253. Acrylic on canvas. Courtesy of Ayyam Gallery Nelida Fuccaro, SOAS and British Institute for the Study of Iraq t seems timely and appropriate to devote of the consolidation and disintegration of apart Iraq’s ancient Christian communities this issue to the people and heritage the modern state. In what follows Hamit and culture. Curtis remembers the city of Iof Iraq a year aft er the dramatic fall of Bozarslan refl ects on the destiny of the Nimrud, blown up by ISIS in April. He Mosul to the so-called Islamic State of Iraq Kurds, debating the new opportunities examines this history both as one of the and Syria (ISIS). Th e articles included in of – and the challenges to – Kurdish self- great centres of the Assyrian Empire and this issue analyse some of the tragic events determination posed by ISIS’s occupation as an exceptionally rich archaeological site and consequences of the takeover of Iraqi of portions of Iraq and Syria. Zooming that attracted generations of archaeologists. territory by ISIS’s militias before and aft er in on rural Kurdistan, Christine Allison Nadje Al-Ali’s interview with Saad al-Jadir Mosul. As widely reported in the world provides an account of the terrible ordeal of is also a tale of loss which evokes the ancient media the violent actions and destructive the Yezidis of Sinjar, an ancient heterodox musical culture that animated Mosul’s behaviour of the ‘army of the Caliphate’ religious community facing a very uncertain thriving artistic and intellectual scene in the have targeted individuals and communities, future under ISIS threat, not least as a 20th century. and with them some of the extraordinary result of their ambiguous relations with the In this scenario of suff ering and archaeological, religious and artistic heritage Kurdish Regional Government. destruction Eleanor Robson off ers some of Iraq. Charles Tripp brings to light the hope by concentrating on the activities As MEL goes to press, the battle to retake contradictions of ISIS’ religious extremism of the British Institute for the Study of Ramadi – which fell to ISIS forces on 17 by discussing the very mundane politics Iraq, some of whose council members May – is about to begin. ISIS threatens to underpinning the spectacular acts of and affi liates have contributed to this forever change the political, demographic faiths staged in and around Mosul: from issue. Robson reminds us of what is being and religious confi guration of this diverse the destruction