Amidst increasing academic interest in “post-human” war technologies of surveillance and targeting, my dissertation conversely examines the ramifications of militarizing human beings as cultural technologies in wartime. I claim that “local” intermediaries are hired as embodied repositories of cultural knowledge to produce the soldier as an “insider” within the warzone. I focus on Iraqi former interpreters and contractors during the 2003 Iraq War who currently work as cultural role-players in pre-deployment simulations in the United States. In a new contribution to scholarship on war, my ethnography is staged within mock Middle Eastern villages constructed by the U.S. military across the woods and deserts of America to train soldiers deploying to the Middle East. Among mock mosques and markets, Iraqi role-players train U.S. soldiers by repetitively pretending to mourn, bargain, and die like the wartime adversary, ally, or proxy soldier they enact. Employed by the U.S. military in the post 9-11 “Cultural Turn” as exemplars of their cultures but banished to the peripheries as traitors by their own countrymen, and treated as potential spies by U.S. soldiers, these wartime intermediaries negotiate complex relationships to the referent as they simulate war. In my dissertation, I investigate the epistemological and affective dimensions of this wartime trend, as wartime intermediaries embody culture for training soldiers, but not on their own terms.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Melbourne, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Services, 2007. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 298-335).

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This qualitative exploratory study sought to understand highly educated Iraqi and Syrian refugees’ perceptions of their learning experiences during economic integration in Luxembourg. This research sought to elucidate how these new migrants learned to integrate in a country with a long tradition of migration but little exposure to Arabic-speaking groups. Further, it sought to explore participants’ experiences of what knowledge, skills, and practices they required, how these were learned, what facilitators and inhibitors they faced, and the impact of identity and religion.In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 refugee participants who had arrived in Luxembourg since 2015 and from 10 professionals working in refugee integration programs. Additional data were collected from critical incident questionnaires and document analysis. Several key findings emerged from interviews. First, participants reported high professional status prior to their forced migration and gratitude toward Luxembourg for its support, despite their many challenges. Second, participants identified linguistic skills, market-relevant experience, Western qualifications, and adaptability as essential for integration, which (apart from academic qualifications) were learned informally. Third, timely professional exposure was a facilitator to integration, while Luxembourg’s multilingualism, job market, work regulations, and discrimination were inhibitors. Fourth, participants reported stigma and invisibility around their refugee identity. Their religious beliefs did not influence their economic integration. This research draws four main conclusions. First, migrants navigated the impact of wars which disrupted their lives alongside an uncertain present, fraught challenges and mixed feelings. Second, while linguistic skills, relevant academic qualifications, and adaptability were important, there exists tension between the non-formal learning refugee integration ecosystem failing to account for the informal learning that new migrants required. Third, while timely professional exposure facilitates economic integration, Luxembourg’s ‘equal-for-all’ (but pragmatically restrictive) frameworks and multilingualism delay new migrants’ integration. Fourth, there is little shared understanding among stakeholders on the impact of identity and religion in economic integration. The recommendations of this study are to (1) champion timely access of migrants to the job market through intensive language training and professional exposure; (2) assess fairness of employment frameworks for non-majority groups; and (3) reflect on an inclusive, fair, and diverse national adult education strategy.

<p>This study is an investigation of newly arrived young Iraqis and their view on obstacles and opportunities available in a secondary school in Södertälje City. This is also a comparative study between the newly arrived Iraqis schooling in Iraq and in Sweden. We have used theoretical concepts such as culture, ethnicity, refugee, intercultural education, socialization and PTSD. These have helped us to provide distinct guidelines when we analyze newly arrived young Iraqis in Södertälje City. Our approach has been based on qualitative interviews with both students and teachers. We have concluded that the Iraqi students that we interviewed did not feel that there were opportunities in the Iraqi school, but obstacles did exist. However, we discovered that all students experienced a lot of opportunities and some obstacles in the Swedish school. In our final discussion, we concluded that the Swedish school should invest more time and resources for newly arrived refugees with traumatic backgrounds.</p>

This study is an investigation of newly arrived young Iraqis and their view on obstacles and opportunities available in a secondary school in Södertälje City. This is also a comparative study between the newly arrived Iraqis schooling in Iraq and in Sweden. We have used theoretical concepts such as culture, ethnicity, refugee, intercultural education, socialization and PTSD. These have helped us to provide distinct guidelines when we analyze newly arrived young Iraqis in Södertälje City. Our approach has been based on qualitative interviews with both students and teachers. We have concluded that the Iraqi students that we interviewed did not feel that there were opportunities in the Iraqi school, but obstacles did exist. However, we discovered that all students experienced a lot of opportunities and some obstacles in the Swedish school. In our final discussion, we concluded that the Swedish school should invest more time and resources for newly arrived refugees with traumatic backgrounds.