
4 minute read
Conclusions
from Reviving "Eden"
In this essay, I have explored ideas of internal colonialism within the more comprehensive postcolonial theory and governmentality discourses, looking at the case of the Ma’dan in the Marshlands in the south of Iraq. In attempting to understand the practice of internal colonialism and its connection to state governmentality, I began with a historical study and critique of the development of the Marshlands and their history as a place of refuge and destruction since the 1920s. I then focused on the 1990s as a case of internal colonisation wherein state control negatively affected the regional economic and ecological development of the Mesopotamian Marshlands through the exploitation, oppression and displacement of minority Ma’dan groups. I looked at remote data sensing, such as aerial photography, as a source of analysis to understand changing land use. I then focused on the human scale and the local culture, looking at the case of the mudhif and its construction and use. Finally, I looked at development policies and the potential for remediation of the Marshlands and their community.
Throughout the essay, I have focused on the spatial elements and proximities behind internal colonialism and the subsequent effects of internal degradation, segregation or oppression. I did this by exploring ideas of land ownership and variations of policies that control these in the context of the Marshlands presented, specifically looking at a cartographical and spatial study of the spatial changes of this context and looking at the transformative effects of land politics.
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In doing this, the changing attitudes of development in the 20th and 21st centuries have become evident, as conflicts of internal colonisation and state control in the late 20th century have been shifted into state-driven resource extraction through ideas of neofeudalism and capitalism. Moreover, this paper aimed to understand the role of the state and international agents in the remediation efforts and current disputes over sustainable development following destruction, looking at how modern-day developments and challenges (both with regard to geopolitical conditions and climate change) reignited debates regarding the Ma’dan people and the Iraqi state.
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