Alexander Humphries
Key information
- Qualifications
- BA Hons (Kent), MA (University of London)
- Email address
- 634009@soas.ac.uk
- Thesis title
- The Christian formation of Iraq: A Study of the Chaldean Catholic Church’s role in the creation and development of the Iraqi nation
- Internal Supervisors
- Professor Dina Matar & Professor Gilbert Achcar
Biography
My research is to examine the role of Christian communities during the creation and development of Iraq and evaluate their political, economic and social contributions to the new nation. The communities of particular interest to my studies include the Chaldean Catholic Church, Church of the East, Syrian Catholic and Orthodox communities and the Armenians. While focusing predominantly on Iraq’s history from its last years as an Ottoman territory to the end of the Second World War, I have an additional research goal to explore Britain’s role in Iraq and assess how Britain’s actions, policies and interests had an impact on the new nation’s development. By examining these Christian communities’ contributions to the development of Iraq, as well as the influence and actions committed by Great Britain, I hope to explore how the new Arab nation was able to form its own national identity, nationalism and to what extent Iraq’s approach in both these subjects follows current academic theory.
Research interests
- Religious Nationalism
- Eastern Christianity and Eastern Catholicism e.g. Chaldeans
- Creation and development of Iraq
- Colonial and post-colonial history in the Arab World
- Religious-minorities relations
- Church-state relations
- Islamic fundamentalism and extremism