Abdulameer al-Hamdani

Dr. Abdulameer M. Al-Dafar Al-Hamdani (born May 1967, Nasiriyah, Iraq)[1] is an archaeologist and politician who has been the Minister of Culture of Iraq since 18 December 2018.[2]

Academic background

Hamdani's father was illiterate and had a large family who lived in a reed hut in a village in the Mesopotamian Marshes. He wanted his children to have an education, so he asked the Iraqi government to provide a teacher and they sent members of the Communist Party of Iraq to act as teachers.[3]

Hamdani went on to go to Baghdad University, graduating in 1987 with a degree in Ancient Archaeology.[1] He was the director of Nasiriyah Museum and director of Antiquities for Dhi Qar Governorate from 2003 to 2009. From 2007 he was also a lecturer at Dhi Qar University. He created an atlas of archaeological sites using GPS and satellite images, including 1200 new sites that had not previously been documented.[4] Hamdani worked with the Italian army - who were responsible for security in Dhi Qar from 2003 to 2006 - to protect archaeological sites, declaring that "'we have 800 sites and one million thieves ... I am ready to work with the Devil in order to protect these sites.''[5]

In 2010 he started at State University of New York at Stony Brook (SBU) where he co-directed a joint Iraqi-American mission to excavate the site at Tel Sakhariyah near the ancient city of Ur.[6] He completed his Masters degree there in 2013, which he followed with a PhD in 2015.[1]

Following the capture of Mosul by ISIS, they started to destroy ancient monuments that they deemed to be blasphemous. Hamdani organised a protest against the demolition of Nimrud, saying that "thousands of years of history are being smashed by the hammers of ignorance, with each destroyed statue, a story is forgotten”[7]

Minister of Culture

The general election in May 2018 returned the most divided parliament since the invasion of Iraq in 2003. After eight months of negotiations, Adil Abdul Mahdi was nominated as Prime Minister to head a "government of technocrats". His first nominee for the Minister of Culture was Hassan al-Rubaie, a commander of the Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq (AAH) militia, who was strongly opposed by other parties.[8] Two months later the Prime Minister nominated Hamdani as Minister of Culture with the backing of AAH[9] and he was approved by the Council of Representatives.[2]

References
  1. "Abdulameer Al-Dafar Hamdani | SUNY: Stony Brook University | Curriculum Vitae". sbsuny.academia.edu. Retrieved 2018-12-26.
  2. "Iraq's parliament confirms cabinet ministers, but divisions remain". Reuters. 2018-12-18. Retrieved 2018-12-26.
  3. "Alum Appointed to Ministry of Culture in Iraq |". SBU News. 2018-12-24. Retrieved 2018-12-26.
  4. "Dr Abdulameer M. Al-Dafar (al-Hamdani)". Endangered Archaeology in the Middle East and North Africa (EAMENA), University of Oxford. 2018-05-09. Retrieved 2018-12-26.
  5. Banerjee, Neela; Garen, Micah (2004-04-04). "Saving Iraq's Archaeological Past From Thieves Remains an Uphill Battle". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-12-26.
  6. "SBU Faculty Conduct Archaeological Excavations in Iraq |". SBU News. 2012-03-16. Retrieved 2018-12-26.
  7. "Islamic State group seeks to erase history in Iraq". Science. 2015-03-09. Retrieved 2018-12-26.
  8. "Iraqi prime minister tested by early balancing acts | Sami Moubayed". AW. Retrieved 2018-12-26.
  9. The New Arab. "Iraqi parliament approves three new ministers, but remains deadlocked over key posts". alaraby. Retrieved 2018-12-26.


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