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The Handbook of Iraqi People’s Heritage

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posted on 2025-01-29, 16:46 authored by Mariz Tadros, Shivan Shlaymoon Toma, Juwan Mohammed M. Mahdi Almofti, Wafaa Sabah Khuder, Saaed A. Saaed Majdal, Zubeida Salih Abdulkhaliq, Charley Howman

Iraq is a land of rich and diverse cultural heritage, shaped by thousands of years of history. As a crossroads of civilisations, the country bears the marks of many cultures, beliefs, and religions, each leaving a distinct imprint on its people and landscape. However, there are many groups and communities marginalised on religious, ethnic, linguistic, and cultural grounds in Iraq. It is the heritage of such marginalised groups that is most at risk of disappearance.

The Handbook of Iraqi People’s Heritage is the result of a collaboration between the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), UK, and the University of Duhok in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. It is the fulfilment of a vision of heritage gathering and preservation that would not have been possible without the heroic efforts of the heritage gatherers: the young women and men who sought out the histories, traditions, practices, and places that constitute the heritage of their own respective communities.

Personal narratives and excerpts from individuals interviewed provide rich content for the chapters that feature nine communities: the Armenians; the Assyrians; the Chaldeans; the Kakeyîs; the Sabean-Mandaeans; the Shabak; the Syriac Orthodox; the Turkmen of Tal Afar; and the Yazidis.

The Handbook looks at the living heritage in the day-to-day life and activities of both individuals and communities. Traditions and practices reveal the deep cultural significance in the daily activities surrounding food and drink, music, clothing, and language and education. Similarly, there are the traditions focused around festivals, religious holidays, rituals, feasts, celebrations, and remembrance.

Heritage is what is so meaningful in our lives that we choose to pass it on to the generations to come. Reaching beyond buildings and belongings, there is also the intangible heritage reflected in oral histories, traditions and practices, and personal and collective memories.

This Handbook reflects the remarkable resilience and enduring strength of all the communities featured. Their continued preservation of collective memories, traditions, and history, despite the hardships, is testament to the communities themselves.

Funding

British Council's Cultural Protection Fund, in partnership with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

History

Publisher

Institute of Development Studies

Publisher statement

This is an Open Access Handbook distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA), which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original authors and source are credited; any modifications or adaptations are indicated; the work is not used for commercial purposes; and if modifications or adaptations are made, the work is distributed under the same licence as the original work. The views expressed are those of the authors, and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of IDS or the University of Duhok. The Institute of Development Studies was responsible for the production of this publication, working alongside the University of Duhok. Coordination and collaboration: Professor Mariz Tadros (IDS), Charley Howman (IDS), and Dr Shivan Shlaymoon Toma (University of Duhok). The publisher (IDS) has used its best endeavours to ensure that the URLs for external websites referred to in this Handbook are correct and active at the time of going to press and that photographs reproduced in this Handbook are used with permission of the copyright holder or their delegate. However, the publisher has no responsibility for the websites and photographs and can make no guarantee that a site will remain live or that the content is or will remain appropriate, or that permissions have been obtained from all participants in photographs. Every effort has been made to trace all copyright holders, but if any have been overlooked the publisher will be pleased to include any necessary credits in any subsequent reprint or edition. Any issues or complaints will be resolved amicably. Contact: ids@ids.ac.uk The accessibility is being developed on this publication. If you have any questions, please contact us at: publication@ids.ac.uk or ids@ids.ac.uk

Citation

Tadros, M.; Toma, S.S.; Mahdi, J.M.M.; Khuder, W.S.; Saaed, S.A.; Abdulkhaliq, Z.S. and Howman, C. (2025) The Handbook of Iraqi People’s Heritage, Brighton: Institute of Development Studies, DOI: 10.19088/IDS.2024.044

Version

  • VoR (Version of Record)

IDS Item Types

Book

Copyright holder

Institute of Development Studies

Country

Iraq

Language

en

IDS team

Power and Popular Politics

Pagination

1–292

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