2007 News
Book Donations
TAARII seeks donations for its permanent library. Currently located in the Amman office, this collection will be relocated when the Institute moves to Iraq. To date, TAARII has received the gift of a substantial collection of archaeological sources. TAARII welcomes book donations in this and other fields. In particular, TAARII seeks the donation of The Encyclopedia of Islam and the Index Islamicus. Please visit the TAARII website for the current catalog of the TAARII library (www.taarii.org). Contact us regarding new donations at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
Thanks to those individuals and institutions who have donated books to Iraqi institutions of research and higher learning through TAARII. We sadly announce that due to changes in the United States Postal Service M-bags program, we will no longer be able to cover the cost of transporting donated books to Iraq.
Announcing the Winner of the TAARII Prize for Best U.S. Dissertation on Ancient Iraq
TAARII is pleased to announce that Dr. Michael Kozuh was selected to receive the 2005–2006 outstanding dissertation prize. Dr. Kozuh successfully defended his thesis entitled “The Sacrificial Economy: On the Management of Sacrificial Sheep and Goats at the Neo-Babylonian/Achamenid Eanna Temple of Uruk (c. 625–550 B.C.)” at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago.
Kozuh’s dissertation contributes significantly to our understanding of Babylonian economy and bureaucracy by analyzing the management of herds of tens of thousands of sheep and goats in the southern Babylonian city of Uruk, based on 550 legal and administrative texts from the temple’s archive.
The thesis elucidates the relationship between the nature of sheep and goat care and the Eanna’s administrative methods and bookkeeping; it clarifies the division of labor between the functionaries of Eanna and outside contractors; and it deepens our understanding of the political dynamic between the temple and the crown government.
Michael Kozuh is the sole award winner for 2005–2006. No prize was awarded for a U.S. dissertation on medieval or modern Iraq.
2007 U. S. Fellowship Recipients
Professor Sinan Antoon, The Gallatin School, New York University
“In the Vocative Case: Saadi Youssef’s Iraq”
Mr. Haytham Bahoora, Department of Comparative Literature, New York University
“Toward a Singular Modernity: Literary and Architectural Modernism in Iraq, 1950–1965”
Professor Magnus T. Bernhardsson, Department of History, Williams College
“Before the Storm: Americans in 1950’s Iraq”
Professor Eric Davis, Department of Political Science, Rutgers University
“The Formation of Political Identities in Ethnically Divided Societies: Implications for a Democratic Transition in Iraq”
Ms. Melissa Eppihimer, History of Art and Architecture, Harvard University
“The Visual Legacy of Akkadian Kingship”
Dr. Carrie Hritz, Department of Anthropology, Washington University, St. Louis
“Remote Sensing of Cultural Heritage in Iraq”
Professor Dina Khoury, History and International Affairs, George Washington University
“Postponed Lives: War and Memory in Iraq”
Dr. Mina Marefat, Design Research, Johns Hopkins University, and Catholic University
“Architecture, Cultural Politics, and Universalizing Modernism in 1950s Baghdad”
Ms. Sara Pursley, Department of History, City University of New York, Graduate Center
“The Conflict over the Iraqi Personal Status Law of 1959: A Social History”
Professor Nada M. Shabout, Art History, University of North Texas
“Between Local and Global: Continuity in Iraqi Art since 1990”
Professor Keith Watenpaugh, Modern Islamic Studies, University of California, Davis
“Reassessing the ‘Assyrian Tragedy’ (1933): International Humanitarianism, Citizenship, and Communal and Sectarian Challenges in Interwar Iraq”