How cultural heritage can help Iraqis heal
6 August 2018
When you think of cultural heritage ۧÙŰȘ۱ۧ۫ ۧÙŰ«ÙۧÙÙ, what comes to mind? For many, cultural heritage denotes material artefacts and archaeological riches, intellectually valued relics worthy of preservation. It is also the things we cannot necessarily see or touch, defined by  as the âintangible attributes of a group or society that are inherited from past generations, maintained in the present and bestowed for the benefit of future generationsâ. These âintangiblesâ can include societal values, communal bonds, traditions, rituals, oral expression and language. But heritage is subject to filtering in a âselection process: a process of memory and oblivion that characterizes every human society constantly engaged in choosingâŠwhat is worthy of being preserved for future generations and what is notâ. This process provides us with a âversion of historyâ. In a land of diversity and time of change, is it yours?
Heritage kept and heritage lost are often the results of decisions steered by institutions and elites, in any country. Qahtan Al-Abeed, supervisor of world cultural heritage sites in Iraq with UNESCO, experienced this directly. Born in Basra in 1980 before moving to Kirkuk in 1986, Qahtan âalways liked old thingsâ. However, at school he wondered why there was âlimited information of our history, limited information of our civilisationâ. An Archaeology degree was then a specialist opportunity only afforded to 15 students a year at Baghdad University.
Dictatorship, conflict and instability in Iraq have enabled attacks and control over legacies, buildings and human identities. Iraqi history has been characterised by the âsystematic dismantlingâ of heritage, suggests Professor of Ancient Middle Eastern History at University College London, Eleanor Robson, âfrom the time of the British Mandate, post-World War I, to during the past 15 yearsâŠthe Coalition Provisional Authority and others deprioritised understanding of communities and civil society. Think about the ways museums have told a nationalist history â this set the scene for Saddam through to ISIS.â So why is heritage of particular interest and investment now?
Partly because the country is on the cusp of change and also because cultural heritage has been a tool in war. Over recent years ISIS destroyed swathes of North-Western Iraq including the walled city of Hatra, the monuments of Nimrud, libraries, and a number of religious sites. Furthermore, ISISâ intolerance to pluralism and the groupâs crimes, such as rape and the demolition of shrines, is an âideological removal of identityâ says Professor Robson, âand thereâs a failure to understand its importanceâ.
ISIS also destroyed the Mosul museum. When this happened, Qahtan Al-Abeed, as Director of Basrah Museum, opened its first gallery in September 2016. It was a show of solidarity âto counteract it [war with ISIS], a message of peace.â
In an attempt to assist with the reconstruction of Mosul, Qahtan hopes to use his position to train others. He laments how the city is âin zero condition, it needs a long timeâ. Rather, heritage rehabilitation can also be about âgiving and creating. Young people, engineers, doctorsâŠthey are interested, but they want someone to teach them how to do it.â
Prior to ISIS, events involving the United States were also manipulated for political and ideological ends. âStuff happens⊠freedomâs untidyâ said Donald Rumsfeld of the rioting and looting of museums and libraries unprotected in the United States invasion in 2003, citing the burning and destruction of heritage as âcollateral damageâ.
In the instability of American occupation Qahtan Al-Abeed moved back to Basra to work for the directorate of antiquities. But squatters had looted and taken over the premises. Qahtan indicates the difficulties Iraqis faced post-2003 â âIf we couldnât even protect our office, how to protect a heritage site? We had to create from zeroâ.
So, cultural heritage has been weaponised for decades to further agendas, ideologies and notional superiorities. After ISIS and current post-election uncertainty, how do Iraqis want to move forward?
Venturing inquiry is the Nahrein Network. Headed up by Professor Robson, Nahreinâs aims are to support the sustainable development of antiquity, cultural heritage and the humanities in Iraq and its neighbours. Cultural heritage can contribute to âsustainable development and social cohesionâ, she explains, if it is âinclusive, accessible and democraticâ. When rehabilitation allows âfor individuals with collective identitiesâ, heritage can be a mechanism for recovery in diverse societies.
Funded by the U.K. Arts and Humanities Research Councilâs Global Challenges Research Fund, the project runs until 2021. During this time, Nahrein is cooperating with museums, universities and cultural heritage sites in the Middle East to develop interdisciplinary humanities research and education, thus also driving social and economic development. Many institutions have a stake in the network, and collaborations are already in place with the University of Baghdad and Basrah Museum, amongst many others.
Nahrein then is also a vehicle, âa funding body, trying to hook up Iraqi ideas with money and infrastructure,â explains Professor Robson. Soon Nahrein will fund Iraqi research projects exploring âthe synergies between history, the humanities and heritageâ. Professor Robson has worked in the country for several years. âWe want to bring intellectual ownership back to Iraq,â she adds. âI hope that the isolation of the past 28 years starts to dissolve and in the next few years, others work ·ÉŸ±łÙłóÌęIraqis. Itâs normal.â
In a move to realising this ambition, Nahrein is equipping Iraqi academics such as Dr. Rozhen Kamal Mohammed-Amin with scholarships to visit the U.K. Dr. Rozhen, architect, founder and head of the Digital Cultural Heritage Research Group at the Sulaimani Polytechnic University, says: âThrough the networkâs joint visiting Iraqi scholarship, I am awarded a unique opportunity to modernize cultural heritage storytelling and experience at a local museum as a model, a plan that I had to put on hold due to lack of local fundsâ.
Ultimately, Nahrein is trying to âre-establish local pasts for local people, where culture is part of a rich and fulfilling lifeâ. Recently the project has been engaged in fact-finding missions, listening to a wide range of Iraqis, and asking, how would a good future look? Nahrein hosted a session at The Station in Baghdad with around 25 young professionals. At that focus group, âSomeone said âold minds decide what happens.â We want to get outside these institutional cultures.â Most participants, it transpired, were âbored at schoolâ, instead finding a âlove of culture and heritage through familyâŠthrough being at their grandparentsâ house, through songs, car trips, picnicsâŠâ Notably, âThey were emotional responses. Whether home or a place,â says Professor Robson, âItâs about feelingsâ. Possibly, the emotional aspects of heritage are the glue. Eleanor elaborates how cultural spaces âcan also be an opportunity to forget, and have fun. An escape mechanism, to not think of difficult presents. Museums, the marshesâŠthese are calm spaces for contemplation, for people to be themselves.â
Qahtan Al-Abeed echoes the sensory powers of heritage. âWe want to change the sad memories of Basrawi peopleâ he says. He plans to fully open the remaining galleries in the Basrah Museum in March next year. The museum uncovers 1800 years of history and excavations in the region, showcasing artefacts, pottery, glass, coins, toys and coffins. Yet, it is the less tangible dimensions that make the museum more significant than the sum of its contents.
Paradoxically, it is housed in Saddamâs old palace complex, in a tourist location. Qahtan rationalises why: âIt is huge, with a secure gated area and big rooms for galleries.â It is also of course a ghostly and emblematic acquisition. âPeople hated it!â states Qahtan, âAs a symbol of the totalitarian regimeâ.
In 1991, during the Shaaban Intifada, Saddamâs army carried out massacres in the palace. It was physically ruined again in 2005. In the allegorical ashes are messages. For regimes around the world, the Basrah museum aims to represent âhumanity and civilisationâŠwe are not for dictatorship, for doing bad things to peopleâ. And, affirms Qahtan firmly, âWe are not removing Saddamâs names from the walls. We will tell people in future the story. That is the only testimony we have.â
Meanwhile, also in Basra, Qahtan is trying to reactivate Khashaba ۟ێۧۚ۩, a local traditional form of music and dance. He is supporting the development of tourism amongst the marshes, a UNESCO listed site since 2016. But the water shortage, the result of climate, geography and regional politics, has created drought and now civil unrest. âLife continues,â Qahtan observes, with stoical resilience, âWe have to live. We have to do something important. Humanity has to help earth.â
And it is this relationship âbetween people and thingsâ, says Professor Robson, that heritage personifies; âItâs who you are.â
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