Research project
Preserving the Disappearing Cultural Heritage of Post-War Mosul, Iraq: Valuing Diversity in the Urban Recovery of Mosul’s Old Districts
- Start date: 1 November 2019
- End date: 30 May 2022
- Funder: British Academy
- Value: £249,999
- Partners and collaborators: UK: Nottingham Trent University, Durham University. Iraq: Mosul University, University of Wasit, Department of Antiquities and Heritage in Iraq.
- Primary investigator: Professor Gehan Selim
In the aftermath of severe destruction of Mosul’s heritage assets and the displacement of its communities, Mosul’s long-lived heritage of arts, folklore, crafts and festivals is quickly disappearing. This project seeks to implement a strategic approach to revive local traditions and reactivate the cultural heritage of the Old City through memorialisation, preservation and dissemination of shared heritage as a catalyst for sustainable socio-economic mobilisation of the heritage economy. It aims to research, record and analyse the memories of heritage practices, festivities and crafts that used to define the pre-conflict society of Mosul.
Through community engagement and co-creation workshops with displaced communities, the research team is looking to digitally record and archive oral narratives and memories of local residents and craftsmen, trace spatial networks of historic festivities, crafts and places of production to generate an interactive, digital and tangible record of the city’s traditions, and build capacity amongst young generations and unemployed women in the Old City.