Descripción del proyecto
El papel del cine en Irak
A principios del siglo XX, los iraquíes presenciaron el surgimiento del ocio y el entretenimiento modernos, incluido el cine, como parte de un fenómeno mundial. Aunque la producción cinematográfica iraquí creció a nivel nacional, su presencia en el escenario internacional no fue significativa. El equipo del proyecto ICBS, financiado con fondos europeos, se centrará en la circulación transnacional de objetos culturales y materiales como el cine. Asimismo, estudiará cómo estos objetos se unieron para difundir el ocio y el entretenimiento en Irak. Los hallazgos del proyecto ayudarán a aumentar nuestro conocimiento acerca del cine primigenio en Irak y en otros lugares, así como de las oportunidades y los conflictos que surgieron en Irak en el siglo XX.
Objetivo
In the beginning of the 20th century, Iraqi cities and urban environments changed and new public spheres and forms of work
and leisure emerged. New neighborhoods, and institutions, cafés, and theaters changed the structure of urban life. In the
process, modern leisure and entertainment began moving from the private realm into the public and increasingly came to be
organized on a commercial scale. One index of these changes was cinema, which arrived in Iraq in the early 20th century
and quickly became a highly popular form of entertainment. A modern and global rather than a specifically Iraqi
development, the emergence of cinema in Iraq can be seen as a local inflexion of a global phenomenon. Situated at the
crossroads of Egyptian, Indian, European, and American film production, cinema in Iraqi sheds light on the transnational
qualities of early cinema in Iraq itself but also in the many areas across the globe where national cinema only emerged
belatedly. Yet, the development of the specific culture of cinema, so significant in the history of Iraq as well as in the field of
cinema studies and nonwestern cinema, has received scarce attention. My project undertakes this fresh subject,
interrogating the transnational circulation of cultural products and material objects, including films and technology, and
exploring how they came together at a particular historical moment with capital, performers, and people with technical skills
to establish cinema as a form of leisure in Iraq. Studying the emergence of cinema in Iraq through an approach that attends
to cinema’s material and transnational histories and contexts can enhance our understanding not just of Iraq and its many
entangled networks, connections and histories, but also of early cinema outside of the global centers of gravity. Finally, TECI
shows how the intersection of capital, public space, and popular entertainment lays open both the possibilities, tensions, and
conflicts that developed in 20th century Iraq.
Ámbito científico
Programa(s)
- HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Main Programme
Régimen de financiación
HORIZON-AG-UN - HORIZON Unit GrantCoordinador
0313 Oslo
Noruega