SOAS, University of London (The School of Oriental and African Studies)

Overview

Name:

Mr Fadi Dawood

Email address:

fadi_dawood@soas.ac.uk

Thesis title:

Makings of a Warrior Race in Iraq: The Case of the Assyrians

Year of Study:

2010/2011 (year started)

Internal Supervisors

• Nelida Fuccaro

PhD Research

Contextualized within the period of the British mandate in Iraq (1919-1932), this study will examine the impact these events made upon the Assyrian society. Two dimensions will be the focus of this study. The first is the makings of the Assyrian “warrior race”. The concept of the “warrior race”, a “belief that some groups of men are biologically or culturally predisposed to the arts of war” will be examined; militarization and the branding of the Assyrians as a “warrior race” by the British will be the focus of the first part of this dissertation. Once the “warrior race” identity is examined, this study will shift focus to the Baquba Refugee Camp. Changes experienced by the Assyrian society within the confines of the refugee camp will also be examined. Assyrian societal change will serve a case study for the communalist divisions that plagued Iraqi society during the British mandate.

PhD Affiliations

• London Institute for Middle Eastern Studies
• Middle Eastern Studies Association
• Canadian Historical Association
• Canadian Society for Syriac Studies