Uncovering Iraq: Trajectories of Disintegration and Transformation

The conference built on the legacy of Hanna Batatu’s classic study, The Old Social Classes and the Revolutionary Movements of Iraq, published in 1978. Drawing upon Batatu’s scholarship, three panels explored facets of Iraq’s situation: the first reflecting on his contribution to current understandings of Iraqi history; the second examining how producers of knowledge—the academy, think tanks, the government, and the media—portray the country today; and the third drawing upon Batatu’s meticulous methodology to analyze contemporary Iraqi affairs. 

Agenda

9:30am-10:30am Registration/coffee

10:30am Welcoming Remarks

10:45am Opening address
Isam Al Khafaji, Iraqi Social Scientist, Institute for Multiparty Democracy, The Hague

11:15am Panel 1 
Batatu’s Contributions to Current Understanding of Iraqi History

Dina Khoury, George Washington University (Panel Chair) 
Reidar Visser, Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
Peter Sluglett, University of Utah
Juan Romero, Georgetown University

12:15pm Q & A, Panel 1

12:45pm Lunch

2:00pm Panel 2
Guiding Assumptions of the Public Discourse on Iraq

Chris Toensing, Middle East Research and Information Project
Wayne White, Former Deputy Director of the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research's Office of Analysis for the Near East and South Asia (INR/NESA) and senior regional analyst
Sinan Antoon, New York University

3:00pm Q & A, Panel 2

3:30pm Panel 3
Contemporary Patterns of Rearrangement

Peter Harling, International Crisis Group 
Ghassan Atiyyah, Iraqi social scientist
Eric Davis, Rutgers University

4:30pm Q & A, Panel 3

5:00pm End