The Ba`th Party and Political Culture in Iraq The Iraqi state under the Ba`th party prioritized the political indoctrination of the party members as well as the rest of the populace. The Party and its branches used two interrelated ways to develop a culture of indoctrination: al-thaqafah al-hizbiyyah (the political education) and al-thaqafa al-`amma (general culture). Ba`thist cultural policy was managed by the Ministry of Culture and Information which played an important role in the tawjih fikri (mental guidance) of the population by means of the media, Saddam Hussein's copious speeches, and special education and cultural programs targeted at different sections of society. Ba`thifcation of the masses was no less important than the indoctrination of Party members, and the Party paid special attention to educating the masses in general, and the youth in particular, about national culture. Similar to other authoritarian regimes, the intention was to create a "new man" and a "new society". The paper, based on archival sources from the Ba`th party, focuses on how the Party dealt with "guiding" its own members through madrasat al-i`dad al-hizbi (Party Preparatory School) and intensive cultural activities. The paper discusses how these schools operated, their curricula and different aspects of the Party's cultural activities, such as Party publications and the role of libraries in the cities and towns of Iraq.

Prior to the 2003 invasion of Iraq and continuing to today, the US military and its analysts have emphasized the new role of culture in contemporary wars. What the military and analysts have chosen to use as the frameworks for understanding culture is the national character studies that typified cultural anthropology of the 1940s and 1950s, long abandoned by the discipline because they did not adequately address cultural change and history. However, these frameworks have been embraced by the US military and political analysts because they are simple. In essence, national character studies allow them to interpret Iraqi behavior not as products of current contexts or historical situations, but to the inherent characteristics of a national group. And thus, the diversity and history of contemporary Iraqi culture and society is reduced to one shared national culture taught to soldiers and marines in a 45 minute powerpoint presentation or a sixteen panel, folding laminated "Iraq Culture Smart Card". This research is based on 100 interviews with US servicemen and women and Iraqis, and a large collection of cultural training material produced by the US military and its contractors. I argue that this perspective and pedagogical methods neither reflect accurately the diversity of Iraq (and human behavior), nor do the US servicemen and women find this information useful. I describe and analyze within current debates about counterinsurgency, some of the consequences of producing analyses and cultural training material based on this type of cultural knowledge on the interactions between US soldiers and marines and Iraqis, and their perspectives on each other's cultures.

The eruption of tribal conflict in several places throughout the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in 2009 is evidence of the continued significance of kinship ties in Jordan, as is the increasingly institutionalized nature of family or kin-based associations. As kin groups have become more institutionalized - some going so far as to formally register as welfare agencies - their public role has evolved in some surprising ways. Specifically, some kin-based associations have publically called for a cultural "renewal" or "awakening" in response to economic realities in Jordan. The program for renewal has consisted of public documents, conferences and charters which delineate lists of harmful customs, as well as recommendations for "cultural change" more conducive to Jordan's progress and development. The most recent document released by tribes and clans of al-Salt in 2008 also addresses tribal mediations and honor crimes in its laundry list of cultural do's and don'ts. The authors of these documents call both for the "development" of culture to reflect contemporary economic contexts, as well as the return to purer and more noble cultural traditions not tainted by consumerism. This paper is particularly concerned with this role of kin-based institutions as apparent harbingers of cultural shifts. Drawing on analysis of their public proclamations, related conference proceedings, as well as the media coverage and recent on-line debates about the legitimacy and/or efficacy of such efforts this paper will examine the role of kin-based non-governmental organizations in delineating what are appropriate and "civilized" customs and traditions. The paper also examines shifts in the culture discourse of these groups; as they become more institutionalized these groups have begun to take up some issues typically associated with the agenda of international development and rights groups such as women's participation in civil society. In some respects then their engagement with culture may upset long-held assumptions about the conservatism of kin-based groups. Furthermore, their evolution and the evolution of their culture talk provide critical insights into new dynamics of civil society engagement with contemporary politics of culture in Jordan.

My work explores the place of contemporary Palestinian art in Palestinian society since the Oslo Accords of 1993. I am particularly interested in the promotion and support of contemporary art as a form of culture that, according to international donors and funding agencies, such as the Ford Foundation and the European Union, is considered fundamental to the establishment of a democratic Palestinian civil society. This is a view shared by many Palestinians who view contemporary art as a critical tool for the protection, utilization and promotion of their cultural heritage and without which their national sovereignty would be at risk. My research is an ethnography of the "art scene" in Jerusalem and Ramallah, two cities which house important Palestinian art institutions and are home to a number of prominent Palestinian artists. I critically investigate how artists and institutions work together to use contemporary art for social and political change, while also examining how such efforts might risk masking the deeper political plight facing Palestine at large. My presentation examines the convergences and tensions that emerge within the Palestinian art scene between culture as a tool for social and political change and culture as aesthetics, or, between culture as an emerging integral player within local politics and its rising value as a commodity within an international art market. This convergence and tension is most evident, I will argue, in the turn to an ethnographic or quasi-anthropological art practice among Palestinian artists over the last decade, a trend within the international art world since at least the 1990s. Building on my own ethnographic research and a series of interviews with local cultural actors, including curators, educators and artists, along with a close analysis of specific works of art, the aim of my presentation will be to elucidate some of the principal features within this ethnographic turn in contemporary Palestinian art and how this turn has impacted upon local politics while simultaneously working within an international art market. My hope is to draw out the play between politics and aesthetics, highlighting both the potentials and dangers at work when culture becomes identified too closely with either position.