Project overview
This project will explore the nexus of crafting, heritage and well-being for survivors of conflict in Iraq, which has one psychiatric hospital for 38 million people. It brings together a team with interdisciplinary expertise in arts, heritage and psychology in the UK and Iraq. The project will be co-produced, driven by the team and local participants in collaboration, to ensure the outcomes are relevant and beneficial to Iraq and reflect Iraq’s complex, often intersectional, societal needs. A key aim is to create a robust evidence-base for arts and crafts in improving personal and social well-being. We wish to demonstrate to Iraqi stakeholders and policy makers that such reflective practices play a critical role in fragile post-conflict contexts. We want to determine specific ways that engaging with heritage through craft has potential to rebuild the personal and social well-being and dignity that are key to underpinning sustainable, inclusive peace in Iraq.
