Destruction of Iraqi cultural artefacts: A devolving iconoclastic narrative

Mustafa, Balsam 2022. Destruction of Iraqi cultural artefacts: A devolving iconoclastic narrative. Islamic State in Translation: Four Atrocities, Multiple Narratives, Bloomsbury Academic, pp. 131-154. (10.5040/9781350152014.ch-005)

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Abstract

The last case study in this book turns to the destruction of cultural artefacts and historic sites in Nineveh province in Iraq represented in three successive videos released by ‘IS’ in February and April 2015. The videos showed the physical destruction in Mosul’s museum and at one of Nineveh’s Gates, the proposed UNESCO world heritage site of Nimrud and the world heritage site of Hatra. By attacking Christians, Ezidi and Islamic shrines revered by both Shias and Sunnis alike, ‘IS’ was attacking the Iraqi cultural identity itself. By identity, I refer to the fundamental, static and continuous shared identity that goes beyond any other differences and peculiarities. Hall (1990, p.223) defines this identity as a ‘shared culture, a sort of collective “one true self”, hiding inside the many other, more superficial or artificially imposed “selves”, which people with a shared history and ancestry hold in common’. It is entrenched in the old relationship hold between Iraqi people and the history of the Mesopotamia, which they identify as the cradle of civilization....

Item Type:	Book Section
Status:	Published
Schools:	Schools > Modern Languages
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
ISBN:	9781350152014
Last Modified:	24 Jul 2025 15:30
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/179997

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