Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Leveraging secrets : Displaced archives, information asymmetries, and ba'thist chronophagy in iraq

Degerald, Michael LU (2021) In Information and Culture 56(2). p.158-177
Abstract

During ruptures in state power in both 1991 and 2003, varying groups and individuals seized many Iraqi state archival records, with some later taken outside of the country. Different Iraqi groups gathered unprotected archival records, as did US troops in 2003, while other records were destroyed on the ground in Iraq, likely by state employees, to maintain the records' secrets. Would the information in these records be revealed, destroyed, or used by others to leverage power? Using the concept of information asymmetry, this article explores the battle over information held in Iraqi state archival records by tracing the shifting power relations and attempts to write Iraqi history based on the information the records contain. Accordingly,... (More)

During ruptures in state power in both 1991 and 2003, varying groups and individuals seized many Iraqi state archival records, with some later taken outside of the country. Different Iraqi groups gathered unprotected archival records, as did US troops in 2003, while other records were destroyed on the ground in Iraq, likely by state employees, to maintain the records' secrets. Would the information in these records be revealed, destroyed, or used by others to leverage power? Using the concept of information asymmetry, this article explores the battle over information held in Iraqi state archival records by tracing the shifting power relations and attempts to write Iraqi history based on the information the records contain. Accordingly, this article takes up the question of scholarly engagement with the displaced records.

(Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Chronophagy, Displaced archives, Historiography, Information asymmetry, Iraq
in
Information and Culture
volume
56
issue
2
pages
20 pages
publisher
University of Texas Press
external identifiers
  • scopus:85111263770
ISSN
2164-8034
DOI
10.7560/IC56203
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
f1f2a238-24ae-4c89-896f-c61d5ce8b086
date added to LUP
2021-09-01 14:07:26
date last changed
2023-10-11 00:01:42
@article{f1f2a238-24ae-4c89-896f-c61d5ce8b086,
  abstract     = {{<p>During ruptures in state power in both 1991 and 2003, varying groups and individuals seized many Iraqi state archival records, with some later taken outside of the country. Different Iraqi groups gathered unprotected archival records, as did US troops in 2003, while other records were destroyed on the ground in Iraq, likely by state employees, to maintain the records' secrets. Would the information in these records be revealed, destroyed, or used by others to leverage power? Using the concept of information asymmetry, this article explores the battle over information held in Iraqi state archival records by tracing the shifting power relations and attempts to write Iraqi history based on the information the records contain. Accordingly, this article takes up the question of scholarly engagement with the displaced records. </p>}},
  author       = {{Degerald, Michael}},
  issn         = {{2164-8034}},
  keywords     = {{Chronophagy; Displaced archives; Historiography; Information asymmetry; Iraq}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{2}},
  pages        = {{158--177}},
  publisher    = {{University of Texas Press}},
  series       = {{Information and Culture}},
  title        = {{Leveraging secrets : Displaced archives, information asymmetries, and ba'thist chronophagy in iraq}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.7560/IC56203}},
  doi          = {{10.7560/IC56203}},
  volume       = {{56}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}