Abdel Qader Amer is currently a PhD student in the Department of Near and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Basel and a Project Assistant in the research project Futures Interrupted: Social Pluralism and Political Projects beyond Coloniality and the Nation-State, led by Prof. Dr. Falestin Naïli.

He earned his master’s degree in Political Science from the University of Jordan in 2019. His master’s thesis, “The Democratic Transition in Republican and Monarchical Systems in the Arab World (1991–2017): Tunisia and Morocco as Case Studies”, examined developments in the region from the perspective of comparative political systems.

In addition to his research work, Abdel Qader has three years of experience teaching Arabic to non-native speakers at the Institut Français du Proche-Orient (IFPO) in Amman.

As part of the “Futures Interrupted: Social Pluralism and Political Projects Beyond Coloniality and the Nation-State” project, this study seeks to re-examine the transitional period between the decline of the Ottoman Empire and the emergence of nation-states in the Arab world from a new perspective. Specifically, it focuses on local actors, analyzing the short-lived Syrian Arab government (1918–1920) and its interactions with Iraqi struggles for independence leading up to the establishment of the Iraqi state in 1920–1921 under the British mandate.

Within this framework, the project re-examines the formation of Iraqi national identity, which has often been described as a purely colonial legacy. By shifting the focus to the legacies of the late Ottoman period, this study explores their role in the formation and shaping of Iraqi national identity. It also engages with the broader concepts of nation-building and the formation of collective memory.

The research is based on the analysis of primary sources from the period to understand how individuals and groups articulated their perceptions of identity and belonging. Furthermore, it investigates administrative practices during the late Ottoman era and their potential role in laying the groundwork for the formation of Iraqi national identity.