In 2018, scholars discovered the 75,000-year-old remains of a Neanderthal woman in Shanidar Cave, Iraq. What followed, argues Dana Sofi, reveals how even deep prehistory can become political. Once the woman's reconstructed face circulated online, 'Shanidar Z', as she was named, grew into more than an archaeological finding, coming to represent digital struggles over identity, territory and belonging
Dana Sofi argues that public participation in Iraqi Kurdistan has expanded in form but remained limited in influence. His research shows that new civic forums increased visibility, access and local trust, yet failed to make political institutions more responsive or redistribute power from elites to citizens
PhD, Senior Lecturer and Researcher in Sociology, Örebro University / Mälardalen University
Dana is a researcher in sociology specialising in political sociology, civil society, public participation, ethnopolitics, migration, governance, and post-conflict political order, with a particular focus on Iraq and the Kurdistan Region.
His research explores the relationship between formal political arrangements and everyday practices of inclusion, exclusion, and participation.
Dana's recent work has been published in Democratization and examines public participation, civil society, and procedural democratisation in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
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