Future of Iraqi Diaspora?

I was just thinking today of the American Irish diaspora (being of that tribe) and how much of the support for the IRA has come from America... I have heard various exaggerations over the years, such as, "the last Irish to properly recollect the famine are American," and, "what brought peace in Ireland was not Blair but the end of funding from America post 9/11." This makes me wonder what is the future of the emergent Sunni diaspora? Is there any evidence that this new diaspora is being watched by anyone, whether spook or anthropologist? Is anyone trying to shape it away from generations-long support of extremists (I assume Baath and salafi extremists are trying to shape it to support them)? I did a search of these boards and didn't catch anything that really seemed directed at this group in particular, my apologies if this is topic is old hat.

Hi Schuld,

That's a really good question, and I would suspect that the topic may be getting farmed out to graduate students as we speak :D. I can't speak for the intel community but, by a coincidence, I got a notification today of a special section on Anthropology and Islam at The 16th International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences (IUAES) 15-23 July 2008 in Kunming, Yunnan, China. I will leave it you to decide if the Anthropology community is looking at the issue.

Quote:

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Session on
Anthropology and Islam
Chair: Dr. P. Khosronejad, University of Oxofrdn U.K.

Call for papers:

• Visual Anthropology in Muslim Societies: Problematics and Methodologies
• Death and Dying in Muslim Societies
• Space and Gender in Muslim Ritual and Ceremonies

We invite the submission of expressions of interest for these three panels
which will form the "Anthropology and Islam" session at the 16th
International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences (IUAES)
on Humanity, Development and Cultural Diversity, to be held 15-23 July
2008 in Kunming, Yunnan, China.

Please visit this link (http://www.icaes2008.org/) for more information on
proposing a paper for inclusion in one of these three panels.

For more information please contact directly the session’s chair:
Dr.Pedram KHOSRONEJAD,
Junior Research Fellow at The Middle East Centre
St.Antony's College, University of Oxford.
Oxford OX2 6JF UK.
e-mail: pedram.khosronejad@sant.ox.ac.uk

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Originally Posted by Schuld

I was just thinking today of the American Irish diaspora (being of that tribe) and how much of the support for the IRA has come from America... I have heard various exaggerations over the years, such as, "the last Irish to properly recollect the famine are American," and, "what brought peace in Ireland was not Blair but the end of funding from America post 9/11." This makes me wonder what is the future of the emergent Sunni diaspora? Is there any evidence that this new diaspora is being watched by anyone, whether spook or anthropologist? Is anyone trying to shape it away from generations-long support of extremists (I assume Baath and salafi extremists are trying to shape it to support them)? I did a search of these boards and didn't catch anything that really seemed directed at this group in particular, my apologies if this is topic is old hat.

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Great question. I'd also be curious to see what the ethnic breakdown of the diaspora is, though I think the majority must be Sunnis.