Noorah Al-Gailani

Noorah’s talk will explore the lives of Ma’ruf Al-Karkhi (d. c 813 AD), Al-Junaid Al-Baghdadi (830-910 AD) and Abd Al-Qadir Al-Jilani (1077-1165 AD). These influential mystics often came from unexpected backgrounds and lead intriguing lives.

Biography

Noorah is curator of Islamic Civilizations at Glasgow Museums. Noorah’s research interests include both the history of Islam and the history of the Church.

But serious challenges remain. A shaky economy is being further weakened by the global financial crisis and low oil price. A comprehensive political settlement still seems far away and the new democracy remains fragile. While there are signs of national reconciliation underway, ethnic and religious tensions remain high. Iraq’s relations with its neighbours are unsettled and United States’ combat troops will not be withdrawn until the summer of 2010.

So has Iraq turned a corner? Will the next few years see increased prosperity, stability and security for its citizens? Will the country regain a leading role in the region and re-emerge as a global player?

Or is Iraq simply experiencing a lull in a longer storm? Will it be overwhelmed by its political, social, and economic complexities and inherent contradictions? And will other countries and influences in the region continue to act as a destabilizing force?
This discussion panel will explore where Iraq finds itself now, its future prospects, and the role international actors, and cultural relations in particular, can play in supporting its re-emergence.

The event is hosted by the British Council as part of its commitment to building trust and engagement within and between countries, and to promoting the exchange of knowledge and ideas between people worldwide.

Ticket Information: This is a free event but places are limited. To reserve a seat please email iraqpanel@britishcouncil.org before 11 May and include your name and a contact telephone number.

Venetia works at the Bristish Museum where she is curator responsible for the collection of Islamic art, in particular of the Arab World and Turkey as well as the collection of the modern and contemporary art of the Middle East.

Ventia recently curated an exhibition of contemporary Iraqi art which ran along side the British Museum’s Babylon exhibition. Out side the British Museum Venetia is closely engaged with the Iraqi art world and she regularly collaborates with the INCIA (The International Network for Contemporary Iraqi Artists).

As well as an expertise in Middle Eastern art Venetia has research interests in Arabic inscriptions, amulets, seals and ceramics.

Biography

Irving Finkel

Irving works at the British Museum where he is the curator in charge of cuneiform inscriptions on tablets of clay from ancient Mesopotamia. His work involves reading and translating all sorts of inscriptions as well as working on ancient archives to identify manuscripts that belong together, or even join to one another.

Irving also works with children and adults to promote greater familiarity with the ancient Middle East, by means of lectures, workshops and media activity. He specializes in ancient Mesopotamian medicine and magic, and is also interested in literature, religion and the history of ideas in this part of the world.

He is also interested in the history of board games throughout the world, and especially the preservation of traditional board games in many non-western societies.

Over the course of the 20th century, cultural activity in Iraq has encompassed a full range of expressions, but two major arenas have played an important role in defining the country’s arts: resistance and memory.

Iraqi artists, writers and musicians have often chronicled or creatively represented many forms of resistance to the catastrophic experiences of imperialism, totalitarianism, and military occupation which have defined the modern experience of Iraq. Whether as voices of marginalized communities or as part of a cultural vanguard, Iraqi artists have often found themselves as the personification of resistance, as much as political or religious leaders have. At the same time, cultural activity in Iraq has provided the framework for the preservation of social memory, in the face of successive systems that have been dedicated to the erasure of aspects of that memory.

In this way, cultural activity in Iraq has often been a significant reservoir for the remembrance of the past, when official systems or encompassing catastrophes have led to the destruction of artifacts, archives and other elements constituent of memory.

This symposium aims to be an opportunity to present dialogue and discussion between cultural producers and scholars on the theme of “Iraq, Resistance, Memory”. Prominent cultural figures will present short talks on aspects of their own work or the work of other Iraqi cultural figures, in discussion with scholars and critics with an expertise in modern Iraq.

Anticipated participants will include Sinan Antoon, Saadi Youssef, Gulala Nouri, Hussain al-Mozany, Rasoul Saghir, Betool Kheidari, Kamran Rastegar, Lamia al-Gailani, Stephan Milich, Najde al-Ali, Amal al-Khedairi and Marilyn Booth.

Schedule of speakers

9.00-9.30 Coffee

9.30-9.45 Introduction and welcome, Kamran Rastegar

Panel 1. Visual Culture
9.45-12.00
Maysoon Pachachi, “Open Shutters Iraq”
Lamia Al-Gailan, “The Private Photographic Archive of Iraq’s Royal Family”
James Longley, “Filmmaking: ‘Iraq in Fragments’”
Rashad Selim, “The Post-invasion Iraqi Art Scene: “Mapping” Formal and Informal Networks Inside and Out of Iraq”
Panel Chair: Kamran Rastegar

12.00-1.00 lunch

Panel 2. Poetry
1.00-3.00
Stephan Milich, “The Dialectic of History and Memory in the Poetry of Kamal Sabti (1955-2006)”
Gulala Nouri, “The Vision of Iraqi Poets of Iraq’s Last War, in Comparison to the American Vision”
Rasoul Saghir “On Iraqi Poetry and Theatre (title TBA)”
Panel Chair: Marilyn Booth

3.00-3.15 coffee break

Panel 3. Resistance and Memory
3.30-5.30
Hussain al-Mozany, “Unwelcome Return”
Sinan Antoon, “Iraq, Mourning and Nostalgia”
Saadi Youssef “On Culture in an Occupied Country”
Panel Chair: Stephan Milich

5.30-5.45 – Concluding remarks, Marilyn Booth

For more information please visit the Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies website: http://www.imes.ed.ac.uk

This is a free event but if you would like to attend please RSVP m.ghorbankarimi@sms.ed.ac.uk

Tony is a professor of archaeology at the university of Durham and we are delighted to have him present a lecture titled “Mesopotamia: Early Iraqi Civilisation”.

Biography

Tony Wilkinson

Tony is currently a professor of archaeology at The University of Durham. His research interests include: the archaeology of the Middle East landscape; long-term trends in settlement and population; geo-archaeology, and human impacts on the environment.

Tony has worked in Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, Iran and Iraq where he was assistant director of the British Archaeological Expedition.

His book “Archaeological Landscapes of the Near East” (University of Arizona Press) received the Book Prize of the Society for American Archaeology (2004), and the Wiseman Book Award of the Archaeological Institute of America (2005).

Biography

James Longley was born in Oregon in 1972. He studied film and Russian Language at the University of Rochester and Wesleyan University in the United States, and the All-Russian Institute of Cinematography (VGIK) in Moscow.

After working as a film projectionist in Washington State, an English language teacher in Siberia, a newspaper copy editor in Moscow, and a web designer in New York City, James traveled to Gaza in 2001 to make his first feature documentary, Gaza Strip, in the early months of the second Palestinian uprising.

In 2002, James traveled to Iraq to begin pre-production work on his second documentary feature, Iraq in Fragments. The film was completed in 2006 with a production grant from the Sundance Documentary Fund and premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, where it was awarded jury prizes for Best Documentary Directing, Best Documentary Editing, and Best Documentary Cinematography – the first time in Sundance history that a documentary received three jury awards. Iraq in Fragments went on to win the top documentary film awards many international film festivals. He has been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Cinematography and has also been invited invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

As tensions escalated between the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran, James traveled to Iran in the spring of 2007 and secured visas and filming permits for the production of a new documentary project. He is filming in Iran now and in collaboration with the Scottish Documentary Institute and Reel Iraq we are delighted he is joining us for a Masterclass on May 15th followed by a screening of Iraq in Fragments at the Filmhouse on May 17th.

This is a free event, but to reserve tickets please email r.day@eca.ac.uk

www.docscene.org

Lamia’s talk will explore the effect of the US/UK occupation on Iraq’s heritage, drawing on her experience as a member of the Iraqi Reconstruction and Development Council.

Biography

Lamia worked as an advisor to the Baghdad Museum right after the 2003 invasion and continues to be very involved in issues concerning the heritage of Iraq. She is a long standing advisor and honorary member of British Institute of Iraqi Studies.

Lamia has published extensively on many aspects of Mesopotamian archaeology and history. She is has been widely interviewed concerning the current Iraqi heritage crisis and is well know for her efforts to preserve Iraqi heritage.