This dissertation examines the production of space in Baghdad during the monarchical and early re... more This dissertation examines the production of space in Baghdad during the monarchical and early republican eras (1921 – 1963). As the capital of the new nation of Iraq following the First World War, Baghdad expanded along the banks of the Tigris River into new residential and commercial spaces, establishing schools, boutique stores, sporting venues, electricity and running water that transformed how Iraqis conceived of the mundane activities associated with daily life. Employing a theoretical framework drawing on Henri Lefebvre’s production of space, I argue that participation in the creation of new neighborhoods and streets was uneven across differences of class, national origin, and generation. In a sharp departure from previous scholarship, my research indicates that such cleavages began as early as the paving of Rashid Street in the 1920’s, three decades before the national development projects of the late monarchical period exposed the limitations of the state to meet all of its citizens’ basic needs for housing, employment, and healthcare. These cleavages were reflected in the susceptibility of utility and road networks to strikes and boycotts in the 1930’s, the range of health outcomes across the city’s hospitals, and the mounting housing inequalities of the Second World War that arose from an influx of rural migrant laborers and their families
Public housing in Iraq has been unduly subsumed into narratives of a declining monarchy propped u... more Public housing in Iraq has been unduly subsumed into narratives of a declining monarchy propped up by oil wealth and international expertise at the onset of the Cold War. According to this narrative, it was a minor concern of an Iraqi government whose infrastructural investment plans contributed little to improving the national economy. A detailed analysis of the labor and expertise that flowed into Iraqi public housing between 1945 and 1958 gives rise to a different narrative, in which migrants to the city participated directly in extending and reshaping the urban fabric. According to this narrative, housing developers sought design and construction methods that would diminish laborers’ political autonomy. In practice, however, public housing construction methods empowered economically and socially marginalized city residents to direct its future growth.
Public housing in Iraq has been unduly subsumed into narratives of a declining monarchy propped u... more Public housing in Iraq has been unduly subsumed into narratives of a declining monarchy propped up by oil wealth and international expertise at the onset of the Cold War. According to this narrative, it was a minor concern of an Iraqi government whose infrastructural investment plans contributed little to improving the national economy. A detailed analysis of the labor and expertise that flowed into Iraqi public housing between 1945 and 1958 gives rise to a different narrative, in which migrants to the city participated directly in extending and reshaping the urban fabric. According to this narrative, housing developers sought design and construction methods that would diminish laborers’ political autonomy. In practice, however, public housing construction methods empowered economically and socially marginalized city residents to direct its future growth.
This dissertation examines the production of space in Baghdad during the monarchical and early re... more This dissertation examines the production of space in Baghdad during the monarchical and early republican eras (1921 – 1963). As the capital of the new nation of Iraq following the First World War, Baghdad expanded along the banks of the Tigris River into new residential and commercial spaces, establishing schools, boutique stores, sporting venues, electricity and running water that transformed how Iraqis conceived of the mundane activities associated with daily life. Employing a theoretical framework drawing on Henri Lefebvre’s production of space, I argue that participation in the creation of new neighborhoods and streets was uneven across differences of class, national origin, and generation. In a sharp departure from previous scholarship, my research indicates that such cleavages began as early as the paving of Rashid Street in the 1920’s, three decades before the national development projects of the late monarchical period exposed the limitations of the state to meet all of its citizens’ basic needs for housing, employment, and healthcare. These cleavages were reflected in the susceptibility of utility and road networks to strikes and boycotts in the 1930’s, the range of health outcomes across the city’s hospitals, and the mounting housing inequalities of the Second World War that arose from an influx of rural migrant laborers and their families
Public housing in Iraq has been unduly subsumed into narratives of a declining monarchy propped u... more Public housing in Iraq has been unduly subsumed into narratives of a declining monarchy propped up by oil wealth and international expertise at the onset of the Cold War. According to this narrative, it was a minor concern of an Iraqi government whose infrastructural investment plans contributed little to improving the national economy. A detailed analysis of the labor and expertise that flowed into Iraqi public housing between 1945 and 1958 gives rise to a different narrative, in which migrants to the city participated directly in extending and reshaping the urban fabric. According to this narrative, housing developers sought design and construction methods that would diminish laborers’ political autonomy. In practice, however, public housing construction methods empowered economically and socially marginalized city residents to direct its future growth.
Public housing in Iraq has been unduly subsumed into narratives of a declining monarchy propped u... more Public housing in Iraq has been unduly subsumed into narratives of a declining monarchy propped up by oil wealth and international expertise at the onset of the Cold War. According to this narrative, it was a minor concern of an Iraqi government whose infrastructural investment plans contributed little to improving the national economy. A detailed analysis of the labor and expertise that flowed into Iraqi public housing between 1945 and 1958 gives rise to a different narrative, in which migrants to the city participated directly in extending and reshaping the urban fabric. According to this narrative, housing developers sought design and construction methods that would diminish laborers’ political autonomy. In practice, however, public housing construction methods empowered economically and socially marginalized city residents to direct its future growth.
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Papers by Andrew Alger