Creating Futures for the Past in Southern Iraq
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FOCUS 113 1 Let us begin with a thought experiment. Try to imagine that the biggest, best Creating Futures for the Past in funded research centres on ancient Brit- ish monuments such as Stonehenge and Southern Iraq: Challenges and Avebury are all in East Asia. Some British universities carry out some basic archae- Opportunities ological exploration of smaller prehistor- ic earthworks, such as the Rollright Stones, but publish little of their work. The British public has a basic understand- ing of the cultural importance of stone circles—they vaguely remember studying them at primary school—and like to visit them for family picnics and school trips. In order to keep up with the latest discov- eries and theoretical developments, how- ever, one needs to read the academic lit- Eleanor Robson erature in Chinese, Japanese and Korean. All online resources, as well as most pop- Iraqi archaeologists and Assyriologists a matter of concern; and what, if any- ular histories, television programmes, are desperate for communication and thing, we as western academic histor- etc., are in these languages too, and their collaboration and intellectual chal- ians, should try to do to about it. In the authors show little interest in getting lenge. Almost every colleague I meet in latter sections of the paper in particular, them translated into English—which, by Iraq is keen to set up research partner- I do not try to be comprehensive but and large they do not speak very well. In- ships and training programmes. Yet they draw upon my own experiences and ob- deed, most of the best researchers hard- are working in a vacuum, mostly isolat- servations, in relation to the UK context ly ever set foot in the United Kingdom ed and unheard in their own country in which I work. My aim is not simply to (UK) and rely instead on decades-old and beyond. There is little public dis- describe but to stimulate discussion, re- archaeological surveys, satellite imagery course on local history and archaeology, sponse and action. and large collections of artefacts, whether and little Iraqi government understand- excavated or purchased, now housed in ing of the value of these matters in civic Keywords: Iraq; Cultural Heritage; their own countries. and cultural life. In this paper I explore Archaeology; Assyriology; Politics; Col- This scenario may seem very far-fetched. how this situation came to be; why it is laboration But it approximates the current state of an- Middle East – Topics & Arguments #03–2014 FOCUS 114 cient Babylonian history and archaeology tual content too. Then, when people asked who had taught her most about the his- in southern Iraq. In October 2012 I gave me for further reading, I could give them tory of her own country. two lectures on Old Babylonian math- one recent article of mine that has been Likewise, Iraqi archaeologists and Assyri- ematics, literature and scribal schooling in translated into Arabic but almost every- ologists are desperate for communication the ancient city of Nippur in southern Iraq. thing else required a good grasp of aca- and collaboration and intellectual chal- This was nothing unusual in itself, for these demic English, French or German, a high- lenge. Almost every colleague I met in Iraq are subjects I have researched, on and off, speed internet connection, and/or the was keen to set up research partnerships over many years. What marked the occa- means to buy or borrow expensive, low- and training programmes. Yet, despite sion was not so much the content of my print-run books. With some notable ex- multiple international initiatives to engage lectures but the context. For the first time ceptions—for instance the journal Sumer, significantly and intensively with Iraqi cul- since the 2003 Iraq War I was back in and the work of University of Baghdad tural heritage professionals (Stone and southern Iraq itself, around 20 miles from archaeologist Abdulillah Fadhil and his Baj jaly), many feel they are working in a the site of Nippur, which I had first visited students—there is little local academic vacuum, mostly isolated and unheard in just a day or two earlier. Initially, I was publication of ancient Iraqi history and their own country and beyond. There is struck only by the oddity of the fact that I archaeology, whether for researchers, stu- little public discourse on local history and had become expert on the place (or at dents or the interested general public. The archaeology, and little Iraqi government least some aspects of it) over a decade be- more I thought about the situation, the understanding of the value of these mat- fore actually setting foot in it. But as my more ethically problematic it seemed. ters in civic and cultural life. In this paper I visit wore on I became increasingly aware It is not that there is no local interest in an- explore how this situation came to be; why of, and uncomfortable about, how little my cient history. My invitation to Diwaniyah it is a matter of concern; and what, if any- audiences knew about what was, in effect, had come from Dr Ahmed Zainy, a Berlin- thing, we as western academic historians, local history. Here I was, giving lectures in trained mathematician at the Women’s should try to do to about it. In the latter English to Iraqi academics (mostly math- College of the University of Baghdad, who sections of the paper in particular, I do not ematicians) and university students (most- had been using my work in his undergradu- try to be comprehensive but draw upon ly archaeologists) about their own cultural ate teaching. Some of the most acute and my own experiences and observations, in and intellectual heritage. And in order to appreciative reactions to my most recent relation to the UK context in which I work. do so, I had to dramatically simplify the book have come from within the Iraqi My aim is not simply to describe but to story that I was telling, even compared to mathematical community. And my talks stimulate discussion, response and action. when I talk to school children or amateur generated a lot of animated discussion history groups in the UK. It was not just a amongst my Iraqi friends and colleagues. Building a Country, Constructing a Past matter of language—my words were being French-educated Basra mathematician Dr To understand the state of ancient history translated into Arabic sentence by sen- Hanna Ali Munther, for instance, intro- and archaeology in Iraq today we need to tence by a kind colleague—but of concep- duced me to a colleague as the person go back at least a hundred years. For con- Middle East – Topics & Arguments #03–2014 FOCUS 115 venience I shall divide the past century mation, whose citizens for the most part bourers and support staff were of course into four distinct phases. were not, in any case, supposed to be local men. But no effort was made, any- educated or intelligent enough to appre- where by anyone, to train promising 1. Wartime and Mandate Iraq ciate its value. Baghdad had had a col- young Iraqis in how to uncover the ancient The ancient history and archaeology of lege of law since 1908, and engineering past of their country. Indeed there was no Mandate Iraq were initially constructed as and teacher training colleges were set up real means to identify recruits and instruct a purely British enterprise, while its Islam- in 1923, but as late as 1935 the American- them in academic work. ic heritage was deliberately underplayed. led Monroe Commission reported that Likewise, the nascent Iraq Museum was The tone had already been set during the Iraq was not ready for the introduction of not initially conceived as an institution British occupation of Mesopotamia dur- university education, as a surplus of high- made for or by Iraqis. It had no ambitions ing World War I (Bernhardsson 57-92). ly educated young men with no suitable to bolster the current political messages Many archaeologists were recruited into jobs to go to would undoubtedly lead to of pan-Arab unity and no resources to do the Arab Bureau, due to their expert local political unrest (Lukitz 115–17). Iraq did not so, being furnished exclusively with finds knowledge: most famously Leonard establish a state higher education system from European and North American expe- Woolley and T.E. Lawrence, who were until the mid-1950s. ditions, which had no interest in the great then excavating together at Carchemish, British archaeology benefited greatly from Islamic empires of the past. Nor did it aim, and of course Gertrude Bell. Antiquity the Mandate (Bernhardsson 130-64; as many western museums did, to display thus gained an unexpected prominence Goode, Negotiating 185–202). Gertrude imperial trophies or chart a progressivist in Britain’s conduct of the war. Both the Bell, as Honorary Director of Antiquities, narrative of mankind’s ascent from primi- British Museum and the Victoria and Al- set up a legislative and administrative tive savagery. It was simply a collection of bert Museum lobbied to impound the framework almost single-handedly, in the stuff from excavations, curated haphazard- finds from pre-war German excavations as face of fierce opposition from more inde- ly by Bell and increasingly reflecting her war booty. The British Museum even se- pendence-minded Iraqi politicians. Two withdrawal from current political life. conded two Assyriologists to Mesopota- large-scale British-American expeditions mian forces in order to carry out excava- ran at Ur and Kish until shortly after 1932, 2. Independent Iraq tions at ancient Sumerian cities in the when the occupation officially ended.