Iraqis of African Origin

The Washington Post today has an article on Iraqis of African descent which I found an okay read. It was focused mainly on southern Iraq, where during the Middle Ages many slaves known as the Zanj were brought from East Africa and forced to work clearing land. The Zanj Revolt of the late 9th century played a key role in the decline of the Abbasids, throwing the Indian Ocean trade from the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea and having shockwaves felt as far as India and Southeast Asia. (Alexander Popovic wrote a book about it.) The Post article falls a bit short, though, in its historical presentation: It claims to deal primarily with the Zanj, yet it takes its descriptions of slavery from a broad spectrum of the Middle East, where conditions were much better. Still, I found the accounts of how African traditions survived very interesting. A couple of years ago, I considered African influences on Middle Eastern society a possible area from which to draw a dissertation topic. I even applied for an SSRC fellowship on the subject, but got turned down and moved on to other things. It's still an interesting field, and one where a lot of work could be done.