Destructive creations: social-spatial transformations in contemporary Baghdad

Sirri, Omar (2021) Destructive creations: social-spatial transformations in contemporary Baghdad. LSE Middle East Centre paper series (45). LSE Middle East Centre, London, UK.

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Abstract

This working paper examines social-spatial transformations in contemporary Baghdad by zooming in on two of the city’s most frequented consumer districts, Karada and Mansour. By way of ethnographic fieldwork, I foreground the entanglements between violence, property and consumption. Baghdad’s transformations over nearly two decades are not simply a product of urban violence; nor are they only a result of the privatisation of formerly public property; nor are they merely a consequence of changes in everyday consumer patterns. Rather, the city’s transformations stem from the co-constitution of all three forces. In Baghdad, violence, property and consumption are inextricably linked. Their enmeshment has in turn spawned social-spatial transformations benefitting the political-economic interests of an elite few at the expense of the urban commons.

Item Type:	Monograph (Working Paper)
Official URL:	http://www.lse.ac.uk/middle-east-centre/publicatio...
Additional Information:	© 2021 The Author
Divisions:	Middle East Centre
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform J Political Science > JQ Political institutions Asia H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare. Criminology J Political Science > JZ International relations
Date Deposited:	18 Feb 2021 10:03
Last Modified:	15 Sep 2023 23:53
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/108866

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