Reading Weekly -August 14, 2016 — August 21, 2016

Highlights this week

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A Ma’dan villager in Iraq — one of the so-called marsh Arabs[/caption]

1. How Rival Gardens of Eden in Iraq Survived ISIS, Dwindling Tourists, And Each Other — A wonderful article touching on the ISIS, Yazidis, and the varying other beliefs on where the mythological Eden might have been. Very highly recommended!
2. Derived from the above article — The Floating Basket Homes of Iraq: A Paradise almost Lost to Saddam is an interesting follow-up on the Ma’dan people.
3. In Philanthropy, Who Is Actually Broken? — The title of this article doesn’t capture its depth. It’s an interesting take on the already established principle of not imposing cultural values in international development work.
4. As you will discover once you head over to read it, it is also one of The Development Set — an interesting and well curated collection of articles on international development.
5. Around the World in 40 books — This is a great list of books that could be relevant to understanding the political and cultural scapes of many parts of the world. In general I don’t like writing lists of lists, but this link seemed to have enough merit to qualify for an exception.
6. What It’s Like to Live in the Capital of the ‘Caliphate’ — Good quick read from Foreign Policy’s Dispatch. It doesn’t go into as much depth as one would like, but is still helpful in painting the lives of some in Raqqa, Syria.
7. On trial: the destruction of history during conflict — Another quick but important read on the ICC trial of Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi, a Malian who is pleading guilt to the destruction of historic cultural and religious sites in Mali.
8. An interesting note, the woman at work here is Fatou Bensouda — the chief prosecutor of the ICC who has already made headlines in the past year like no other previous ICC representative.