2006 News
Announcing the New Contact for The American Academic Research Institute in Iraq (TAARII)
Beginning in August 2006, TAARII’s new contact in Amman, Jordan, will be Dr. Lucine Taminian. Dr. Taminian is well known to TAARII because she has been a researcher on the Iraqi Oral History Project since January 2006. Dr. Taminian comes to TAARII from a position as Academic Advisor at The Royal Institute for Interfaith Studies in Amman, Jordan. There, she also served as the Academic Coordinator for WECMES-2, which was held in Jordan in June 2006.
Dr. Taminian has a Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Michigan, where she received numerous fellowships and awards. She has been a consultant to a number of international organizations and has conducted ethnographic and interview-based research in Yemen, Jordan, and Lebanon. She has edited two books on Yemen and images of Yemeni women, and has published more than fifteen articles and book reviews on a broad array of topics, including poetry and expressive cultures of the Middle East, women and the building of nation states in the Gulf and Arabia, children and childcare in squatter areas of Amman, women and labor, and the Palestinian uprising. Dr. Taminian has teaching experience in Jordan, Lebanon, and the U.S., and is a fluent speaker of Arabic and English.
We are pleased that Dr. Taminian both will provide oversight of TAARII affairs in Amman and Baghdad, and will also continue as a principal researcher on the Iraqi Oral History Project. Dr. Taminian can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and will be TAARII’s principal contact for fellowship and grant applicants from Iraq.
Announcing the Departure of TAARII’s first Resident Director, Dr. Hala Fattah
We regret to announce that Dr. Hala Fattah has decided not to renew her two-year position with TAARII. We deeply appreciate Dr. Fattah's important role as TAARII's first Resident Director and Senior Scholar in Amman. Much has been accomplished in the first two years of her tenure. Two full rounds of the Iraqi Fellowship program have been completed, our office in Amman has been established, and a new program to assist Iraqi librarians in digitization has received support for next year (the TICFIA program, through CAORC). Much has changed in these two years as well. When Dr. Fattah first joined TAARII, we were making plans for her to establish and direct the Institute on the ground in Baghdad. Dr. Fattah showed great resilience in weathering the many changes and disappointments these years have brought, while contributing to TAARII's institutional successes. We will miss her great enthusiasm, her deep knowledge of Iraq and Iraqis, her humor, and her social grace. We look forward to cooperation with her on future projects, and we thank her for all of her work.
Annual Prize Announcement, March 2006
The American Academic Research Institute in Iraq (TAARII) announces new annual prizes for the best U.S. doctoral dissertations on Iraq. Dissertations defended during the 2005–2006 academic year are eligible and may come from any discipline for the study of any time period. One award of $1,500 will be made for the best dissertation on ancient Iraq and one award of $1,500 will be made for the best dissertation on medieval or modern Iraq. Letters of nomination should come from dissertation advisors or committee members, should explain the importance of the dissertation, and should accompany a complete copy of the dissertation manuscript. Please send all nominations/submissions to The American Academic Research Institute in Iraq, 1507 E. 53rd Street, Suite 920, Chicago, IL 60615, by July 1, 2006. Queries may be addressed to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
2006 U.S. Fellowship Recipients, March 2006
Dr. James Armstrong, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations and Semitic Museum , Harvard University
“The Babylonian Ceramic Tradition: The Second Millennium B.C.”
Dr. Eric Davis, Department of Political Science, Rutgers University
“Democratic Transitions and National Political Culture: The Case of the New Iraq”
Dr. Adeed Dawisha, Department of Political Science, Miami University
“Democracy in Iraq: Lost … Recovered?”
Ms. Bridget Guarasci, Department of Anthropology, University of Michigan
“Eden Again: The Technologies of Nostalgia and Reconstruction in Iraq’s Marshes” (Second Phase of Study)
Ms. Lisa Lital Levy, Department of Comparative Literature, University of California, Berkeley
“Jewish Writers in Iraq, 1865–1935” (Second Phase of Study)
Dr. Denise Natali, College of Political Science, Salahaddin University, and Honorary Fellow, Exeter University, England
“Differentiated Development in Post-Gulf War Iraq”
Professor Nada Shabout, Department of Art History, University of North Texas
“Recovering Iraq’s Modern Heritage: Constructing and Digitally Documenting the Collection of the Former Saddam Center for the Arts”
Special CAORC Fellow
Professor Bassam Yousif, Department of Economics, Indiana State University
“Alternatives to Imbalance: Economic Solutions to Iraq’s Difficulties”
Films: A New Educational Outreach Program
TAARII has acquired four documentary films for the purpose of screening on member university campuses. By arrangement with the distributors, any of these films can be borrowed from TAARII’s collection for free public or classroom screenings. The four films currently available are:
- Baghdad Blogger, by Salam Pax
- The Tears of Mesopotamia, by Baudouin Koenig
- Robbing the Cradle of Civilization, by Robin Benger
- Oil in Iraq : Curse or Blessing, by Robert Mugnerot and Baudouin Koenig
Brief descriptions of each film, along with images that can be reproduced for screening announcements, are available at www.filmakers.com. We hope you will be interested in scheduling one or more screenings. Please contact us as This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it to schedule a screening.
Books and Bibliographies
To address the grave situation facing libraries, institutes, and universities in Iraq, TAARII is accepting book donations, which it will ship to appropriate recipients in Baghdad. If you would like to make a donation of classic or contemporary scholarship in your field, please send a list of titles to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Your gift will be tax-deductible and TAARII will cover all related shipping costs.
TAARII would also like to post bibliographies on its website. We invite our members and readers in the U.S. to forward to us listings of recommended readings in different disciplines of the humanities and social sciences, for the information of Iraqi faculty and students. Similarly, we invite our Iraqi colleagues to send us bibliographic information pertinent to the study of Iraq to assist their American counterparts.
Notes from the Board
TAARII’s Board of Directors met on Saturday, November 19, 2005, in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Middle East Studies Association (MESA) in Washington, D.C.
Reports by the President, Executive Director, Resident Director, and Treasurer addressed topics ranging from the current situation in Iraq to past and future program activities, membership, fundraising, and the budget. Special attention was given to discussion of how TAARII might provide support for Iraqi graduate students to come to the U.S. for training. A revised version of the TAARII by-laws was ratified and the meeting was adjourned.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|