Ross Caputi

Research & Digital Productions

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I'm an educator, researcher, writer, and web developer working towards a PhD in history at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. I focus in modern American and Italian history with specific interests in the Anglo-American invasion and occupation of Iraq and the social and cultural history of the Italian south. I have an MA in linguistics, an MA in English Studies, as well as focused training in oral history and public history. I'm a recipient of the Fulbright "Con il sud" grant, which I used to launch an onging project to document an endangered Italian language spoken in Grumento Nova, Italy. Over all I'm interested in using digital tools to create resources for the public.

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Works

The Sacking of Fallujah

I'm the main author of The Sacking of Fallujah: A People's History (UMass Press, 2019). This book is the first comprehensive study of the three sieges of Fallujah, including those by the United States in 2004 and the Iraqi-led operation to defeat ISIS in 2016. Unlike dominant military accounts that focus on American soldiers and U.S. leaders and perpetuate the myth that the United States “liberated” the city, this book argues that Fallujah was destroyed by coalition forces, leaving public health crises, political destabilization, and mass civilian casualties in their wake.

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Archive Iraq

I'm the Head Archivist and a cofounder of Archive Iraq, an open access, digital collection of primary and secondary source materials of Iraqi history for any and all who care to learn. This project is forthcoming and will be released on the 20th anniversary of the Anglo-American invasion of 2003.

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Language Documentation

With the support of the Fulbright "Con il sud" grant, I have begun documenting the language spoken in the Italian village of Grumento Nova (called Saponarese) and building a website with a database to preserve a record of the language and create resources for the community. Approaching this project from a public history perspective, I'm developing a UI (user interface) that makes the database more accessible and interactive for multiple publics, namely the community of Grumento Nova and professional linguists.

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Fear Not the Path of Truth

Fear Not the Path of Truth: A Soldier's Journey After Fallujah is a documentary film I made in 2014 about the human consequences of U.S. military operations in Fallujah, Iraq in 2004. The film won the Changemaker Award at the Traverse City Film Festival in 2015.

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