In the Mershon Center’s tradition of bringing the humanities into dialogue with conventional security studies, this one-day conference gathers experts from history, anthropology, journalism, and other fields to discuss the costs, consequences, and historical legacies of the Iraq War, twenty years after the U.S. invasion of Baghdad. The anniversary provides an important occasion for a collective remembering of the Iraq War and an analysis of its long-term implications and impacts. How did the war shape the future of military intervention, state-building, governance, and security? How did it affect the peoples, groups, societies, and nations involved?
Mershon Center postdoctoral fellow and conference organizer Dr. Zaynab Quadri will offer framing remarks. The main event will consist of three panels with room for discussion and audience Q&A: “The Political and Social Costs of Intervention,” “Historical Contexts and Memories,” and “Culture, Journalism, and the First Draft of History.” Informal conversation will continue during lunch and refreshment breaks; lunch will be provided for registered attendees.
The event will be in person with a Zoom attendance option.
Details and Registration
Organizer
Zaynab Quadri received her PhD in American Studies from The George Washington University. Her research project analyzes private military contracting in the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars, arguing that private military contractors (PMCs) functioned as both brokers of U.S. empire, and opaque figures onto which public anxieties around war, democracy, and capitalism were displaced. Her work has been published in American Quarterly and the Journal of Transnational American Studies. Her research has been supported by the Institute for Citizens & Scholars and Mellon Foundation.
