The future of Iraq cannot be foretold with any certainty. But its recent history may suggest both the possibilities and the limits of change. Three years before the war to remove Saddam Hussein as Iraq's leader, Charles Tripp wrote that with the removal of his regime "new spaces will open up and new possibilities will be created for other narratives to assert themselves in the shaping of Iraqi history. This does not mean that all traces of the present regime will vanish. They will continue to exist both in the processes and structures which it has developed and in the conditions and attitudes which allowed it to emerge. The population of Iraq is not condemned to repeat this history .... [but] those who are seeking to develop a new narrative for the history of Iraq must recognize the powerful legacies at work in the country if they do not want to succumb to their logic."

Hosted by: Program in South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies

In conjunction with: Asian American Studies Program, Department of Anthropology, Department of French, Department of History, Department of Linguistics, Department of Political Science, Department of Sociology, Global Crossroads Living and Learning Center, Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities, International Programs and Studies, Military Education Council, Office of Global Studies, Program for the Study of Religion, Program in Arms Control, Disarmament and International Security, Program in Comparative and World Literature, Program in Jewish Culture and Society, Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory