"Literature as Archive: Writing Literary History as Cultural History" in Roundtable Perspectives: Researching Iraq Today

First paragraph

What can literary texts reveal about those undocumented aspects of life in Baghdad? Is it possible to write cultural histories of Baghdad, a city with deep layers of textual, visual, and material history, without physical access to the city, its spaces, and its cultural and archival institutions? Can scholars use literary texts as a historical archive while recognizing their ambiguities and aesthetic autonomy? Questions like these must inform all interdisciplinary undertakings, yet they are even more relevant in the context of academic production on Iraq, where physical access is limited, and where state archives are largely inaccessible or have suffered irreversible damage.