The Politics of CultureFrom ‘What it is’ to ‘What it does’
Cultural Wholes versus the Cultural Arena
Cultural arena can be broken down into two perspectives – structure and agency.
Culture as a system of symbols and meanings
• Symbols
Culture as practice• Tool Kit
The goal is HEGEMONY
Flag of 1958 Revolution
Iraqi Flag 1959 – 1963 under Qasim
Nisb el-Hurriya (Freedom Monument)
Iraqi Flag under Ba’ath Rule1968 – 1991
Iraqi Flag under Ba’ath Rule1991 - 2003
Project for the Rewriting of History under Ba’th Party
Goes beyond simple political indoctrination
Sought to negate Iraqist nationalism’s inclusive legacy and build a “new Iraqi man and Society”
• Reject or ignore existing power relations (tribalism, sectarianism, social class)
• Get rid of Iraqist nationalist legacy from historical record• Strictly limit religion to the private sphere• Develop new Iraq-centered concept of Pan-Arabism
Ideological Contradiction • Could not adopt exclusive Pan-Arabism (alienation of Kurds, Shi’is,
communists)• Could not embrace Iraqist nationalism (negated Pan-Arabism)
Shu’ubiya Controversy and the Iran-Iraq War
Shu’ubiya Controversy and the Iran-Iraq War
Arabized Persian Shi’a (core of ‘Abbasid bureaucracy, worked to undermine empire from within and caused its downfall)
Message to Sunni minority – Shi’a are untrustworthyMessage to Shi’a – enjoying benefits of the state required
renunciation of cultural heritage
Monument of the Unknown Unknown Soldier
Hands of Victory (Swords of Qadisiyah)
Shatt al-Arab Martyr’s Monument
A sculpture of the footwear hurled at President Bush in December 2008 unveiled in a ceremony at the Tikrit Orphanage complex.
It was ordered to be taken down and destroyed (which it was) only a month later.
The Theatre of Ali al-Kassar (from reading)
Cartoon of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak (2010) after a mounting political challenge by advocates of Mohamed el-Baradei