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Let us begin with a thought experiment.1 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 : 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 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-

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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 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 , significantly and intensively with Iraqi cul- since the 2003 I was back in and the work of University of tural heritage professionals (Stone and southern Iraq itself, around 20 miles from archaeologist Abdulillah Fadhil and his Bajjaly),­ 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 , 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 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-

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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 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 - 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 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 dur- university education, as a surplus of high- made for or by Iraqis. It had no ambitions ing (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- 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 and Kish until shortly after 1932, 2. Independent Iraq tions at ancient Sumerian cities in the when the occupation officially ended. Oth- When Britain formally withdrew in 1932 occupied southern marshes. er American, German and French teams the former Education Minister Sati‘ al-Hus- When the new Kingdom of Iraq was cre- were allowed to work in the country too. ri became the first Iraqi Director General ated under British Mandate in 1920 it was Almost all of the sites they explored were of Antiquities (Bernhardsson 164–210; conceptualised as an essentially Arab en- southern cities of the third and early sec- Goode, Negotiating 203–28). He revised tity, and a Sunni Arab one at that (Sluglett; ond millennia BC, namely from the first Bell’s antiquities laws in Iraq’s favour, which Dodge). In this view, pre-Islamic, pre- half of ancient Babylonian history. Iraqi in- had the effect of discouraging foreign ex- Arab antiquity was irrelevant to state for- volvement was notably absent. The la- peditions as it was now harder to bring

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finds back home to display to sponsors Ministry of Information produced glossy no constituency or community could claim and publics. Meanwhile, the first Iraqi PhD English-language publications with titles privileged access. students were sent to study archaeology such as Mesopotamia Yesterday, Iraq To- At the same time, Iraqi modernism en- in Chicago. Taha Baqir and Fuad Safar day. The state exerted centralised control couraged other countries to set up re- would go on to become leading figures in over the past in various ways: through search institutions in Baghdad, especial- the field. The first Iraqi-led excavations school history curricula, through the State ly those that focused on the regime’s were carried out at the classical Islamic Board of Antiquities and Heritage, and preferred aspects of ancient and pre- sites of Samarra and Wasit, and Abbasid through public images of the regime, of modern history. The oil boom of the monuments were restored. Planning be- Saddam in particular. Collectively they 1970s and 1980s brought huge budget gan for a much larger and more accessible presented Iraq and its leader as the nat­ increases to the State Boarch of Antiqui- Iraq Museum. ural, inevitable successor of millennia of ties and Heritage and a renewed empha- In schools, meanwhile, history teaching militarised dominance over the region, sis on pre-Islamic sites with complex in- had already been centred on pan-Arabism headed by powerful men such as Hammu- ternational archaeological rescue since the early 1920s (Simon). Post-inde- rabi, Nebuchadnezzar and Salah al-Din projects prior to major damming works. pendence, the curriculum became ever (Goode, “Archaeology”; al-Gailani Werr). Archaeological excavation continued more explicitly nationalist and militaristic, The Mongol, Ottoman, and Mandate peri- throughout the -Iraq War of the focusing on thirty to forty Arab, mostly ods of ‘foreign occupation’ were deliber- 1980s, while nationalist rhetoric increas- Sunni Muslim, ‘heroes’ of the past as mor- ately downplayed. ingly focused on the ancient past in or- al role models for Iraqi youth. There was The new Iraq Museum was opened in der to downplay commonalities with little room in this version of history for the 1966, telling a unified narrative of the Iraq’s Shia neighbours. Very much in that ancient, pre-Arabic past of the region, let country’s past, from neolithic hunter-gath- vein, late in the decade the heavily re- alone for global perspectives. erers in the north to the glories of Abbasid stored archaeological site of be- Baghdad. Regional museums were sent gan to host an annual international festi- 3. Back to Antiquity in Baathist Iraq highly uniform mini-collections of arte- val of Iraqi arts and culture (Tracy). Given that Baathism was an explicitly pan- facts to display so that the same story political movement, one might could be told from Dohuk in the moun- 4. Sanctions and Beyond have expected the trends of the post- tainous north to Basra in the Gulf marshes. Foreign missions withdrew from Iraq in the Mandate years to continue and intensify. In this way local histories, regional identi- run-up to the invasion of on 2 Au- However, over the period 1968-2003 Iraq ties, and other challenges to the authority gust 1990, as the state started to take ‘hu- increasingly presented itself as a modern- and unity of the state were minimised: the man shields’ as hostages. Just four days ist—and, in the early decades, secular— diversity of Iraq’s long past was hom­ later the enforced an inter- state built on a deep antiquity (Baram; Da- ogenised into a single, unifying story national embargo on financial and trade vis, Memories; “The Museum”). The which all could identify with but to which relations with Iraq. That month, in retro-

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spect, marked the beginning of long de- edge and expertise; of funding and pres- ward locally successful, honest and popu- cades of isolation for the Iraqi academic tige; of professionalism and control. As we lar politicians whatever their political community. Many provincial museums shall see, it has been hard to regain these stripe (Haddad). Similarly, on the face of it, were looted in the post-war Shia uprisings vital but often intangible assets now that Iraq has never been in better economic of spring 1991 and then stayed perman­ circumstances are different. shape, according to recent reports from ently shut. The Babylon Festival somehow the World Bank and the International staggered on but the Iraq Museum too The Current State Context Monetary Fund. There is potentially plenty closed to public, re-opening only briefly These, then, are the complex roots of of state money available to support re- for special occasions such as Saddam’s Iraq’s often unhappy relationship with its search and education into the country’s birthday in 2000. Large-scale looting of ancient past. For a century already, some past, assuming that there is the political archaeological sites was impossible to have seen its pre-Arab, pre-Islamic an­ willingness and institutional infrastructure control, as the State Board’s budget was tiquity as irrelevant to its present and fu- to do so. now dramatically reduced. Illicitly excavat- ture, while for others—particularly However, the think-tank Chatham House ed artefacts, especially cuneiform tablets, Baathists—modernity can only be con- (Iraq Ten Years On) and the charity War flooded international antiquities markets. structed out of antiquity, thereby deeply Child (“Mission Unaccomplished”) last Museum and university staff suffered like tainting that antiquity for the rest. What year drew attention to Iraq’s major under- the rest of the population with the drastic hope, then, for Sumer, , and As- lying structural problems. It is the young- impact that international sanctions had on in the twenty-first century? Does Iraq est sector of the population who are feel- everyday life. University teachers could currently have the capacity to engage with ing the worst effects of the post-war not live on their salaries alone; students, if its ancient precursors? What is gained by period. In a country with a population of they could afford to study, chose more po- doing so and what is otherwise lost? 33 million, 18.5 million—56%—are under tentially lucrative subjects. Heritage pro- As I finish writing this piece, votes are be- twenty-five, 12.2 million—37%—under fif- fessionals came under increasing surveil- ing counted after the national elections of teen. Less than half of 12-17 year-olds are lance and increasing pressure to support 30 April 2014. It is currently impossible to in school and drop-out rates in both pri- the party line. Contact with the outside predict what the immediate future holds mary and secondary school are nearly 10% world became virtually impossible, except after a year of increasing political corrup- a year. Although 9% of the country’s bud- on tightly controlled state visits to confer- tion and violence, exacerbated by pres- get goes on education, 90% of that goes ences or, latterly, monitored and censored sures from war-torn Syria and UN-sanc- on salary costs, leaving very little for infra- emails. New publications, data, method- tioned Iran. It is not all political doom and structure. As a result over 40% of schools ologies, and technologies—and these gloom, however. Provincial elections are are in need of repair or reconstruction, were substantial in the 1990s—all passed widely acknowledged as successful, with and a further five thousand schools need them by. This loss of contact, in other a sophisticated combination of party lists to be built—and teachers trained for them— words, led to many other losses: of knowl- and personal votes allowing people to re- if Iraq is to meet the educational needs of

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its fast-growing youth population. The na- website UNESCO Iraq states that “safe- cation initiatives are narrowly utilitarian tional literacy rate stands at just 78% com- guarding cultural heritage and rehabilitat- and have not yet grasped the potential of pared to a world average of 85%, the ing cultural institutions are essential ele- humanities subjects in general, let alone same as Tunisia and Tanzania and signifi- ments for national reconciliation and ancient history in particular, in developing cantly better than India or Egypt at 72%, socio-economic development”. But that a strong civil society. but worse than Iran, (pre-war) Syria, and imperative does not seem to extend to Many governments worldwide are cur- South Africa. equipping civil society with the means to rently struggling to see the value in sup- The school system and state curriculum appreciate and take advantage of such ini- porting academic humanities and social have remained largely unaltered since the tiatives—only making provision for tourists. sciences, however, not just those like Iraq war, except for a thorough de-Baathifica- My worry is that UNESCO is unwittingly with more immediately pressing con- tion of its contents. According to a 2011 replicating the cultural conditions of Man- cerns. The British Academy has recently UNESCO report (UNESCO, “World Data”), date Iraq, when ancient history was solely advocated for “prospering wisely” children study history for just two 40- or for Europeans. through, in Lord Stern’s words, “concep- 45-minute periods a week, in years 5-6 of The public appetite for ancient history is tual clarity and impartial, evidence-based primary school (ages 10–11) and years 1–3 underdeveloped because of its associa- research and analysis, together with of secondary school (ages 12–14). Thereaf- tion with Baathist grand narratives open-mindedness and creativity in ex- ter secondary schooling splits into two amongst the older generation, and ignor­ ploring new ideas” which “can guide—and streams, ‘literary’ and ‘scientific’, for ages ance amongst the younger. There are few promote—reasoned political and public 15-17. The history quotient goes up to opportunities to learn about current re- discourse, by bringing fresh knowledge three periods a week for ‘literary’ students search on Iraq’s ancient past, unless one and ideas to the fore” (British Academy but disappears entirely for ‘scientific’ ones. has particularly good knowledge of Eng- 2). It is not just about the obvious eco- Ancient history is taught only at primary lish, French or German and a particularly nomic benefits to the creative, cultural school. The schools themselves are good internet connection. Books in Arabic and tourism industries. A particularly drastically­ under-resourced and the teach- are still in circulation of course, but those powerful section argues that “local his- ers under-trained. UNESCO’s education from the 1960s and later are tainted by tory (…) makes us who we are. (…) Iden- programme in Iraq focuses on improving their political overtones, and those from tity and well-being are inexorably linked” mathematics, science and technology pro- the 1950s and earlier are woefully out of (13). Perhaps even more pertinent to pres- vision, and the promotion of civic values. date. Museums are not yet set up to offer ent-day Iraq, “by explaining how narra- The word ‘history’ does not feature at all public education, for adults or children, tives of the past created present differ- on the Education Areas of Action section assuming that they are open at all. Print ences, historians (…) can help us of UNESCO Iraq’s website, despite the fact and broadcast news media are highly celebrate diversity and not merely toler- that another high-profile theme of its in- fragmented and focus primarily on mat- ate the different” (22). As Diarmaid Mac- country work is Culture. On that part of its ters of political interest. Government edu- Culloch puts it, “particularly in a democ-

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racy, telling the story right is really very Iraqis themselves, both individually and governmental and non-governmental, important, because so many people are institutionally. should continue to come to its aid. This involved in making decisions, even if it is The Iraq Museum and its parent organisa- attitude is in stark contrast to the energy just a vote at an election” (22). Or as Saad tion the State Board of Antiquities and and entrepreneurialism of other cultural Eskander, Director of the Iraq National Li- Heritage have both suffered major losses heritage organisations across Iraq. brary and Archives, said to me in 2013: “If of senior staff through de-Baathification, The Iraq Museum, as home of the State we do not know ourselves, who are we death, and emigration. Current managers Board of Antiquities and Heritage, is still reconstructing this country for? If we can- and the ministerial staff that oversee them nominally in control of cultural heritage in not look back, we have no memory, we are clearly under-trained and out of their the country’s eighteen provinces, includ- have no identity and we cannot move for- depth. These factors all have repercus- ing the three that make up . ward.” In this light, it is difficult to sustain sions that are detrimental to the Museum In practice, however, its inertia means that the argument that history has no place in itself but—paradoxically—generally benefi- for the most part local officials are relative- any country’s future. cial to the provincial structures it nominal- ly autonomous and free to innovate where ly regulates. With rare exceptions the Mu- they have the energy to do so; they almost Ancient Iraqi History Now seum is still closed to the public and to always have the money. As I am focusing Let us turn to the production of ancient researchers, over a decade since the war here on ancient history, I will mention only Babylonian history in Iraq at the present (Arraf). There is an education officer with in passing the extremely impressive efforts time, starting with its most visible symbol, good English who can give tours, howev- driven by the Shia shrines authorities in the Iraq Museum. er. The galleries have been refitted and the holy cities of and Kerbala to In retrospect, it is now clear that at least repopulated with objects, some of them docu ­ment the material culture of historical some of the looting at the Iraq Museum in several times, but the end result is much Islam; and by the avowedly secular and 2003, in particular the ransacking of staff as it was pre-war: large numbers of arte- non-sectarian Iraqi National Library and offices, was motivated by its close identi- facts grouped by type or material into rel- Archives in Baghdad to digitise and get fication with the previous regime (Polk atively small cases which often seem too online all official documentation of the and Schuster; Stone and Bajjaly). There small for the very large galleries, and very twentieth century Iraqi state, torture re- was of course also professional as well as little explanatory text or none at all. The cords and all. However, both are indicative opportunistic theft of artefacts, but this is staff have by and large relied on outside of a new and exciting move to the creation not the place to dwell on that particular agencies for gallery refurbishments, espe- of local historical narratives. In Basra, for episode. Indeed, I would argue that inter- cially UNESCO, and there is little domestic instance, the dilapidated old museum has national concern, even obsession, over curatorial activity. There is still a palpable been replaced with a new one in one of the fate of particular archaeological ob- victim culture—that the museum is still suf- ’s former palaces on the jects stands in stark and shameful contrast fering from the war ten years ago, with an Shatt al-Arab river. The museum is to be with the general indifference to the fate of explicit expectation that foreign agencies, funded and managed jointly by the State

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Board and—for the first time—by Basra Pro- suffered badly from sanctions-era and Technological infrastructure in the much vincial Council, through its Tourism and post-war academic emigration, lack of in- better-funded Kufa University is signifi- Antiquities Committee. UK charity Friends frastructural investment, and training, etc., cantly better. Library provision at both in- of the Basrah Museum and the British In- and a top-down bureaucracy (Jawad and stitutions, however, is woeful: budgets are stitute for the Study of Iraq also provide al-Assaf). The top 15% of school-leavers tiny, and the students’ language skills do assistance (“Friends of Basrah Museum”). are channelled into studying engineering, not extend to reading European text- The final phases of work are now under- medicine, and pharmacy. Even my math- books. Even having good skills in conver- way, and it is hoped that the building will ematician friends complain that they do sational Business English does not equip open to the public some time in 2015. not get the brightest students. The histor­ one to read highly technical excavation A formal operating plan spells out the mu- ians and archaeologists certainly do not. reports, or the rebarbative musings of an seum’s aims, stressing local stories as Since 2009 there has been a large-scale erudite Assyriologist. And Iraqi students much as national history. Objects for the graduate scholarship scheme, funded by are simply not trained in the search and museum will be sent from Baghdad, but the Ministry of Higher Education, which analytical skills needed to locate and make unusually the choice will be negotiated has supported over 22,000 students to sense of what is on the web. Well-meaning with the local museum director, Qahtan date. There is also plethora of similar Eu- projects to mass-scan archaeological re- Alabeed, and supplemented with locally ropean and US schemes for Iraqi graduate ports to PDF and to negotiate free access sourced artefacts. The majority of gallery students—in March 2013 ICEF estimated to JSTOR for Iraqi universities are there- space is given to Sumerian and Babylo- that they amount to about $200 million— fore largely ineffective. However, all staff nian (ancient southern Iraqi) history, along but the majority of those understandably and students have phones or tablets—all with that of Basra itself, from ancient times go to students in science, technology, en- graduands from the University of Kufa are to the present day. Assyrian (ancient north- gineering and medicine. Most (but not all) presented with smartphones by the pro- ern Iraqi) history gets just a single small of the state universities have archaeology, vincial governor—and everyone is on so- gallery of its own. It has not yet been de- ancient history and/or cultural heritage cial media of some sort or another. cided whether the museum will charge an departments, but I know of no systematic The University of Kufa runs training exca- entrance fee—a prohibitive $1 for Iraqis has survey of them. vations at the early Islamic city there, while been mentioned, $10 for foreigners—or I have personally visited the archaeology their counterparts at Qadissiyah have had will open its doors for free. departments of Qadissiyah University in digs in recent years at the Old Babylonian Where, in this setup, do new historians, ar- Diwaniyah and Kufa University in Najaf. At cities of Marad and Pi-Kasi (known locally chaeologists, and cultural heritage experts Qadissiyah, the archaeology department as Abu Antik because of the wealth of an- come from? And how do they get trained? is not connected to the internet. The head cient artefacts found there). Qadissiyah There are thirty-three state universities in of department has a laptop and there are Assyriologist Saad Salman Sinaa is editing Iraq, thirteen of them in Kurdistan, and a at least two classrooms with digital project­ cuneiform tablets found at the latter site. further twenty-two private ones. All have ors but only one of them is functional. Up at the University of Mosul (which I have

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not myself visited) the archaeology de- not least because current stasis in central audiences—professional or public—and partment has been working with a team government is allowing local identities to enable them to engage and respond. We from Boston University, headed by Profes- flourish as never before since the 1950s. do not expect our undergraduates, let sor Michael Danti, to reform its curricu- The worry is that, at worst, the old central- alone our public audiences, to know any lum, in a project funded by the US Em- ised Baathist historical narrative will be re- foreign languages, so why should that be bassy in Iraq. placed by competing sectarian accounts, a prerequisite in Iraq? Of course it is ne­ Since 2013 young Iraqi archaeologists are which are just as limiting, biased and off- cessary at graduate level but certainly not also being trained at the British-Iraqi exca- putting as the one they replace. before. That might mean in the first in- vations at Tell Khaiber in Dhi Qar province. Where do outside experts fit in? Do we stance pushing our publishers to commis- Dhi Qar University has no archaeology de- have any role in changing the current pic- sion Arabic translations of our books. But partment; the trainees, all university grad- ture, given that our collective efforts over it also means being able to speak face-to- uates, come from the provincial office of the past decade have largely failed to be face with colleagues, students, and school the State Board of Antiquities and Heri- transformative? Westerners certainly groups in their own language. Over the tage, along with senior archaeologist Ali should not be dictating terms to our Iraqi past few months the Open Richly Anno- Khadem whose primary responsibility is colleagues but equally we should not con- tated Cuneiform Corpus collective (Oracc) the enormous site of Ur. It is hoped to ex- tinue to ignore them. Equally, business as has been developing mobile-friendly de- tend the training programme significantly usual will not be good enough. Digitising sign for its educational sites such as Knowl- in future seasons, funding permitting. materials is pointless without finding aids edge and Power in the Neo-Assyrian Em- and further support. Out-of-country train- pire, Ancient Mesopotamian Gods and Conclusions: Possible Futures, Enabling ing for limited numbers of people is like- Goddesses, and Cuneiform Revealed. The Change wise often suboptimal: once they are back next step, funding permitting, will be The nation state of Iraq is extraordinarily in their home institution, experience Arab ic­ translation, cultural adaptation, and resilient, despite its obvious major flaws— shows that they struggle to implement focused training for Arabophone users or even because of them, as Fanar Had- what they have learned without the re- and content creators. dad has recently argued. Whatever Iraq’s sources, infrastructure and managerial fate as a political entity, there are thirty- support that we take for granted. I see 2. Scoping the Landscape in Iraq three million-odd people living there. three basic prerequisites for the collabora- There is no shortage of energetic, intelli- They, like everyone, deserve the right to tive development of a viable professional gent, frustrated academics in Iraqi univer- learn about their region’s past, both recent infrastructure. sities and cultural heritage organisations and ancient, should they choose to do so, who are desperate for international col- to understand who they and their commu- 1. Arabic Language laboration, and the innovation and inspira- nities are, and how they came to be. There We need to learn to speak it, and write it, tion that collaboration brings. Identifying is great potential to enable that to happen, in such a way as will make sense to Iraqi them and discussing their needs seems a

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Eleanor Robson key first step, while ensuring that our own cast media, commercial and industrial in-country, with the right partners and un- academic needs and principles are met. sports: all are potential allies. der the right conditions. In particular, it is is Professor of Ancient Near Eastern The partners we work with need not just important to get the message across that History at University College London and be academics and university students. In- 3. Advocating Internationally sustained engagement with Iraq’s ancient the British Institute for the Study of Iraq’s country NGOs can help develop public Many of us need to commit to this future. history is not merely a western indulgence. voluntary Chair of Council. education programmes. UNESCO Iraq A handful of individuals, or even a handful Iraq’s past matters deeply to many Iraqis, email: [email protected] needs to be encouraged to connect its of organisations, cannot work with every for whom it is a powerful and effective education and culture strategies more co- prospective Iraqi partner. Equally, a huge means of asserting collective identity, and herently. Government ministries—whether public relations exercise will be necessary, celebrating cultural diversity, in these Education, Higher Education, Culture, to persuade colleagues, managers and most destructive and divisive of times. Tourism and Antiquities—print and broad- funders of the safety and value of working

Notes especially since ISIS’ invasion Works Cited British Academy. Prospering ---. “The Museum and of the Mosul region in June Wisely: How the Humanities the Politics of Social 1 This paper is a revised 2014, as updates become Arraf, Jane. “Overcoming and Social Sciences Enrich Control in Modern Iraq.” version of a talk given to the outdated almost as soon Looting and Years of War, our Lives. London: British Commemorations: The Institute for Classical Studies’ as they are written at the Iraq Museum Moves to Academy, 2014. Web. 28 Apr. Politics of National Identity. Ancient History Seminar in moment. Reopen.” Christian Science 2014. Ed. John R. Gillis. Princeton: London in May 2013, at the Monitor. Christian Science Princeton UP, 1994. 90–104. kind invitation of Amélie Monitor, 12 Apr. 2014. Web. British Institute for the Study Print. Kuhrt, under the title “Publics, 28 Apr. 2014. of Iraq. “The British Institute Practitioners, and Politics: for the Study of Iraq.” BISI, Dodge, Toby. Inventing Talking Babylonian History Baram, Amatzia. Culture, n.p. Web. 28 Apr. 2014. Iraq: The Failure of Nation in Southern Iraq.” I wrote it in History, and Ideology in the Building and a History the context of formulating the Formation of Ba’thist Iraq. Chatham House. Iraq Ten Denied. New York: Columbia next five-year plan and case London: Palgrave Macmillan, Years On. Ed. Clare Spencer, UP, 2005. Print. for support for the British 1991. Print. Jane Kinnimont, and Omar Institute for the Study of Iraq, Sirri. London: Chatham Eskander, Saad. Personal whose governing council of Bernhardsson, Magnus. House, May 2013. Web. 28 Interview. April 2013. trustees I currently chair, and Reclaiming a Plundered Past: Apr. 2014. submitted it for review in the Archaeology and Nation “Friends of Basrah Museum.” spring of 2014. In revisions Building in Modern Iraq. Davis, Eric. Memories of Friends of Basrah Museum. (autumn 2014) I have not Austin: University of Texas State: Politics, History, Friends of Basrah Museum, attempted to take account of Press, 2005. Print. and Collective Identity in 2010. Web. 2 May 2014. the ever-changing political Modern Iraq. Berkeley and and military situation in Iraq, Los Angeles: University of ––› California Press, 2005. Print.

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