Wednesday, April 14, 2021 - 10:45
American University of Iraq, Sulaimani (AUIS) Lecturer Mrs. Yalda Razmahang has been awarded the Mesopotamian Fellowship of the Committee on Mesopotamian Civilization (the Baghdad Committee) by the American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR) organization for the 2021-2022 academic year.
The fellowship will support Mrs. Razmahang’s proposed work in Iraq, “Assessing Cultural Heritage in Post-Conflict Iraq: The Case of Assur,” which investigates the role that ideology plays in the destruction of cultural heritage.
Her initial research measured different communities’ attachment to the world heritage site of Assur and showed that locals in post-ISIS regions are an underappreciated source of protection for cultural heritage. “Their attachment to the Assur suggests that cultural monuments can serve as bridges to unite people of different ethnic backgrounds,” Mrs. Razmahang said. The next round of research will investigate how local women and youth can become more involved in the protection of their own heritage in the future.
Mrs. Razmahang has been a lecturer in the social sciences department at AUIS since 2018. She completed her second MA in Archaeology and History from Lyon 2 University, where she digitized ancient sculptures to study prehistoric gender relations in the Near East. She is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Archaeology at Lyon 2.