eprintid: 10147164
rev_number: 8
eprint_status: archive
userid: 699
dir: disk0/10/14/71/64
datestamp: 2023-10-13 12:31:52
lastmod: 2023-10-13 12:31:52
status_changed: 2023-10-13 12:31:52
type: working_paper
metadata_visibility: show
sword_depositor: 699
creators_name: Kathem, Mehiyar
creators_name: Robson, Eleanor
creators_name: Tahan, Lina G
title: Cultural heritage predation in Iraq: the sectarian appropriation of Iraq's past
ispublished: pub
divisions: C03
divisions: F28
divisions: B03
divisions: UCL
keywords: Iraq, cultural heritage, statebuilding, policy paper
note: This version is the version of record. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
abstract: Since 2003, Iraq’s elites have appropriated the country’s rich cultural heritage in the service of various undesirable agendas. These range from commercialization to the propagation of sectarian and exclusionary political or religious narratives. Large sections of Iraq’s cultural heritage are now captured for private gain, diminishing its role as a public good accessible to all Iraqis.

A major factor behind these developments has been the political power-sharing system of muhasasa, which is premised on the division of key state roles along sectarian lines. Under this system, income and other resources derived from cultural heritage increasingly accrue not to the Iraqi state but to subnational institutions that actively promote ethno-nationalism, sectarianism and religious objectives.

This paper explores examples of the negative impact of heritage predation on Iraqi society to date, and makes recommendations for both Iraqi and international institutions to counter the damaging effects of muhasasa and the sectarian allocation of cultural resources.
date: 2022-03-24
date_type: published
publisher: Royal Institute of International Affairs
official_url: https://www.chathamhouse.org/2022/03/cultural-heritage-predation-iraq/
full_text_type: pub
language: eng
other_type_text: Other
verified: verified_manual
elements_id: 1950161
doi: 10.55317/9781784135119
isbn_13: 978 1 78413 511 9
confidential: false
lyricists_name: Robson, Eleanor
lyricists_id: EROBS66
actors_name: Robson, Eleanor
actors_id: EROBS66
actors_role: owner
full_text_status: restricted
series: Chatham House MIddle East and North Africa Programme Research Papers
place_of_pub: London, UK
pages: 45
citation:        Kathem, Mehiyar;    Robson, Eleanor;    Tahan, Lina G;      (2022)    Cultural heritage predation in Iraq: the sectarian appropriation of Iraq's past.                    (Chatham House MIddle East and North Africa Programme Research Papers ). Royal Institute of International Affairs: London, UK.      
 
document_url: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10147164/1/2022-03-24-cultural-heritage-predation-iraq-kathem-robson-tahan.pdf