#  Social Anthropology Seminar Series | Omar Dewachi: Ethnographic Reflections On War And Medicine In The Aftermath Of The Battle Of Mosul 

 





April 10, 2023

 

 

- [ News ](/news-categories/news)
 
 

 

 Harvard University's Social Anthropology Seminar Series is open to all. The next talk in the Spring 2023 series will be given by Omar Dewachi of Rutgers University. Please see the attached event graphic for event details.

 **Abstract**

 The Battle of Mosul (2016-2017) is one of the largest and  
catastrophic urban military operations in recent history.  
The campaign was launched by Iraqi government forces and  
paramilitaries, with aerial support from US and international  
coalition, to retake Mosul from the Islamic State who seized  
the city in 2014. With absence of official numbers, at least  
ten-twelve thousand people were killed and close to  
million people, almost half of the city's inhabitants, were  
displaced. Major parts of the city, especially the historical  
old city, was destroyed, including 9 out of the city's 13 public  
hospitals.

   
In this talk, Dewachi provides preliminary ethnographic  
reflections on his recent visit to the city to explore some of  
the consequences of this campaign on the city and its local  
population. Dewachi particularly will focus on the changing  
healthcare landscapes, rise of stubborn wound infections,  
and the ongoing urban renewal of the city. Dewachi will  
attempt to further tie these reflections into his work on war  
biology that chronicles the past two decades of war injury in  
Irag and the broader Middle East.

 **About The Speaker**

 Omar Dewachi is a Radcliffe Fellow at Harvard University and Associate Professor of medical anthropology and global health at Rutgers University. Trained in clinical medicine in Iraq and anthropology at Harvard, Dewachi’s work examines the social, medical and environmental impacts of war and violence in Iraq and the broader Middle East. His award-winning book, [*Ungovernable Life: Mandatory Medicine and Statecraft in Iraq*](http://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=22595) documents the untold history of the 20th century rise and fall of Iraq’s healthcare under decades of US-led interventions. His forthcoming manuscript, *When Wounds Travel: Chronicles of War Biology East of the Mediterranean,* chronicles two decades of ethnographic research and public health work on conflict medicine and displacement in the Middle East. More specifically, the work documents the wide spread of conflict-related injuries and antimicrobial resistance in the context of the reconfigurations of healthcare and humanitarian geographies under decades of protracted conflicts in Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon. Dewachi is the author of numerous publications that have appeared in medical, anthropological, and global health journals, including the *Lancet, Medicine Anthropology Theory, and Global Public Health*.



 

 

 



 

 

 Share on:- [     Facebook ](#)
- [     Twitter ](#)
- [     Linkedin ](#)