Projects

In addition to its research fellowships and academic conferences, TARII implements projects that enrich the fields of Iraqi and Mesopotamian Studies. TARII welcomes the opportunity to conduct other applied projects in the future that are relevant to its mission.

This project is dedicated to improving and supporting a small local heritage museum within the historic Qishla in Koya. This undertaking has aided in the professional preservation and conservation of archaeological artifacts from the Koya Museum. The object collection has increased over the past years through donations of chance-finds by locals and recent archaeological excavations in the area. These artifacts span a remarkable time period, ranging from prehistoric eras to the late Ottoman period.

In collaboration with the Koya Heritage Museum and TARII, a well-trained team from the Iraqi Institute for the Conservation of Antiquities and Heritage conducted the conservation work of 150 artifacts for the Museum. During this project, the objects were photographed cleaned, conserved, and catalogued, while mounts were also prepared. A customized cabinet was also constructed. Future efforts will include the construction of additional cabinets and the detailed curation of the museum.

The Koya Heritage Museum was a joint effort between the Museum, TARII, and the Iraqi Institute for the Conservation of Antiquities and Heritage. It was funded by the German Federal Foreign Office.

The Smithsonian Institution has supported the work of the Iraqi State Board of Antiquities and Heritage (SBAH) to conduct recovery and stabilization activities at the archaeological site of Nimrud for several years. This work has focused on training Iraqis in new ways to protect and save their threatened heritage, as well as help enhance capacities of cultural heritage professionals to manage and operate cultural institutions following destruction caused by intentional damage and general neglect. In Nimrud, the project is designed to provide urgently needed stabilization supplies and equipment to conduct the recovery work needed there, including salvage and safe storage of damaged heritage. This is conducted by the Nimrud Rescue Team (NRT), a group of Smithsonian-trained Iraqi heritage specialists housed at the SBAH Antiquities Office in Nineveh.

In 2022, TARII was contracted by the Smithsonian to facilitate and ensure the implementation of the project, procure supplies, and oversee the installation of equipment needed for the NRT to conduct their work. This collaboration continued in 2023 and 2024 with TARII implementing the full third and fourth seasons of the project.

Additionally, in 2024, TARII secured funding support from the JM Kaplan Fund to construct a large storage building to safely house the recovered objects and provide further space for documentation. This funding also allows TARII and SBAH to convene meetings on the development and implementation of a holistic site plan, in order to ensure the long-term stability of the site and continuation of efforts there, while also considering its future.

Under a partnership agreement with the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM), TARII facilitated the emergency conservation of a Jaff palace in the city of Al-Saadiya. This field project was conducted and led by the State Board of Antiquities and Heritage (SBAH), the Diyala Antiquities office, in 2022 as the last step of the “Regional Course on Cultural Heritage First Aid, Peace, and Resilience in Times of Crisis”, an international course co-organized with the ALIPH Foundation.

Through the implementation of this training course and final field project, IICROM aims to enhance the skills in emergency preparedness and response, crisis communication, and people-centered first aid in cultural heritage. Since its founding, TARII has been invested in the protection of the cultural heritage of Iraq with projects in emergency conservation, funding archaeology and heritage fellowships, and by acting as a trusted partner for Iraqi and international cultural heritage institutions and professionals.

As the oldest remaining building in the city, the palace’s historical and heritage significance is linked to the memory of the city and region. It is associated with the leader of the Jaff tribe, Mahmoud Pasha al-Jaff. Damaged by Daesh in 2014, it is regularly threatened by earthquakes from the nearby fault line, fires from nearby orchards, and ground flooding from the nearby Hamrin Lake.

During the first phase of this multi-phrased field project archaeologists from the State Board of Antiquities and Heritage stabilized the structure of the palace, removed rubble and treated cracks, cleaned the effects of fires, removed modern wall additions, built scaffolding and purchased supplies for future phases, and reconstructed part of the northern wall to prevent vandalism. This initial phase provided for critical work to be conducted in order to save this heritage site.

TARII will continue to support efforts to preserve the heritage of Iraq, as requested by Iraqi scholars.

The Iraqi Oral History Project (IOHP) was inspired by the input from audience members during the 2005 conference that TARII co-sponsored in Amman, Jordan on Iraqi identity. In response to the formal historical presentations of the conference, audience members – senior Iraqi men and women who had been ministers and administrators, ambassadors, and educators from the days of the Kingdom until the last days of Saddam – inserted comments and corrections. Their input demonstrated that the personal accounts of people who took part in the events that shaped the country were essential to the telling of the history of modern Iraq. TARII then re-allocated some existing program funds from its subgrant from the Department of State’s Educational and Cultural Affairs Bureau (ECA) to cover the cost of transcribing and translating a set of pilot interviews. Subsequently, funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) allowed TARII to expand the oral history project and build a strong foundation for the continuation of the project.

Interviews were conducted with 181 individuals from the Iraqi diasporic communities in Jordan, Lebanon, Yemen, the United States, Canada, and Turkey. The majority of the interviews occurred in Jordan, home to the largest concentration of expatriate Iraqis, including many who played major roles in Iraqi history. In the coming years, TARII hopes to expand the IOHP to interview individuals within Iraq. TARII is exploring with several university libraries how to archive the materials and make them available to scholars.

In February 2012, TARII Senior Scholar, Dr. Lucine Taminian, who oversaw the IOHP, was invited to participate in the Hollings Center Higher Education Dialogue entitled “The Future of Oral History in the Middle East and Central Asia” held in Istanbul, Turkey. The conference brought together a select group of scholars and practitioners to exchange ideas on how to create and sustain best practices in oral history studies. Following the Istanbul conference, the Hollings Center awarded Dr. Taminian and Mary Marshall Clark, the director of the Columbia Center for Oral History Research (CCOHR), a small grant to enable Dr. Taminian from Jordan and two additional Istanbul conference participants from Afghanistan and Turkey to meet in New York City during the CCOHR summer institute on life story approaches in human rights contexts, in order to begin crafting a guide on collecting life stories in conflict settings (Documenting and Interpreting Conflict through Oral History: A Working Guide). Dr. Beth Kangas, TARII’s former Executive Director, also traveled to New York City to contribute her insights to this Guide, which TARII and CCOHR co-produced in January 2014. The Guide is available to all gratis online (see the link below).

• Access Documenting and Interpreting Conflict through Oral History: A Working Guide