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Accepted Paper:

A Man and a Map: "Disaster photography" and Kurdish Nationalism  
Lana Askari (University of Manchester)

Paper short abstract:

This paper will explore the different methods of re-production and circulation of an iconic photograph of a deceased man holding his twin babies after the chemical attacks in the city of Halabja (Iraqi Kurdistan – 1988) within the context of Kurdish nationalism.

Paper long abstract:

Of the chemical attacks that took place in Iraq under the Ba'ath regime, especially the case of Halabja (1988) became well documented by journalists.

The photograph of a deceased man holding his dead children under his arms, baker Omer Xawer and his newborns, became the token "disaster" picture in the Halabja- and other chemical attack cases in Iraqi Kurdistan at the time.

As Kurds gained more independence from the Iraqi government, nationalistic pride and identity was shown more openly in social life and photography through the use of traditional dress, national flag colours etc.

It will be argued that this particular photograph, which became widely circulated when the internet gained ground, became especially important in furthering the Kurdish nationalistic cause when it became reproduced within a format where the body of the man is laid out as fitting into the greater Kurdistan map. At this point, the collective trauma of the chemical attacks became directly linked towards the nationalist ideal of a pan-Kurdish state and in recent years it has become part of one of the installations of Tragedy hall in the Halabja Memorial Museum in Iraqi Kurdistan. More importantly, the development of the specific area of Halabja has become a high-profile case within Kurdish politics.

Thus, this paper will engage with the re-production and circulation of "disaster" photography, nationalism, collective memory and memorialisation within the context of an unstable political system.

Panel P10
Engaging Disaster: Photography on Unsettled Ground
  Session 1