Cultural Heritage and Armed Conflict: New Questions for an Old Relationship

Viejo-Rose, Dacia; Sørensen, Marie Louise Stig

doi:10.1057/9781137293565_18

Cited by 16 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…In parallel, a biographical approach, as explored by Sørensen and Viejo-Rose (2015), sheds light on the complex processes that manifest and influence the (re)shifting values and images of heritage sites. It is a way to tune in to the lived stories of these sites' inhabitants and a way to tell the story of that place.…”

Section: Heritage Sites As Canvases Of Narratives and Biographiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is a way to tune in to the lived stories of these sites' inhabitants and a way to tell the story of that place. This lens aids in (re)identifying the fluctuating meanings of cultural heritage in post-war societies and contested geographies (Sørensen and Viejo-Rose, 2015). In the same line, Zibar (2023), in her research on forced displacement urbanisms, developed the territorial biography approach to sketch the overlapping and embedded spatialities of suffering, memories, belonging, and shifting geographies of what and where are past and future homes.…”

Section: Heritage Sites As Canvases Of Narratives and Biographiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Understandably, urban heritage sites are affected by armed conflict and reshaped during post-conflict activities, tensions, and intentions (Sørensen and Viejo-Rose, 2015). After the armed clashes ended, various international responses emphasized the urgency to protect and document the "authenticity" of Aleppo's built heritage (Pütt, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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(Re)calibrating heritage: Al-Jdeideh (post-)conflict transformations in Aleppo, Syria

Salahieh,

Asaeed,

Zibar

2024

Journal of Social Archaeology

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This paper examines how armed conflict impacts the recalibration of Aleppo’s historic urban and cultural fabric, using the Al-Jdeideh quarter as a case study. This article critically reflects on the ongoing (post-)conflict, top-down (post-)reconstruction activities in Aleppo’s historic core, drawing on ethnographic research of visual mapping and semi-structured interviews with current Aleppo dwellers in the city and former dwellers displaced across Europe. Our findings highlight that the current reconstruction activities lack locals’ values and needs, and amplify the altered socio-economic dynamics between the (former) communities’ absence and presence. Therefore, these activities are resulting in a skewed representation of what once was a major hub of culture, commerce, heritage, and everyday life. As such, the paper argues that the current reconstruction attempts lack a comprehensive and context-specific approach, and need to explore more inclusive pathways of human-centered and sustainable recovery.

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Section: Heritage Sites As Canvases Of Narratives and Biographiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Heritage Sites As Canvases Of Narratives and Biographiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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(Re)calibrating heritage: Al-Jdeideh (post-)conflict transformations in Aleppo, Syria

Salahieh,

Asaeed,

Zibar

2024

Journal of Social Archaeology

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“…129 It is where the education system has failed to valorise cultures of co-existence or challenge preconceptions about the roots of other communities that propagandistic discourses of the type seen in Mali, Bosnia, and Myanmar can most easily disseminate distorted cultural narratives that employ tangible heritage as '"evidence" of how one group has greater legitimacy to power or claims to a territory.' 130 Heritage destruction generally exacerbates divisions that come from prior essentialisation of differences, often State-sanctioned through the educational system or the product of education systems that cater for distinct ethnic, religious or geographic communities.…”

Section: Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Picking up the pieces: Transitional justice responses to destruction of tangible cultural heritage

Coakley

McAuliffe

2022

Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights

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The intentional destruction of tangible cultural heritage is commonplace in contemporary conflict. Heritage has immense social, symbolic, and spiritual value and its destruction reveals a broader attack on cultural identity and coexistence. Transitional justice (TJ) efforts have largely neglected cultural destruction as part of a wider marginalisation of cultural rights. This article considers why this is the case and argues that TJ has a meaningful role to play in engaging with issues of collective identity by countering harmful narratives of difference and recognising the legitimacy of cultural variance. It explores the ways TJ can incorporate cultural destruction within the remit of truth commissions, shape educational curricula and influence physical reconstruction of destroyed heritage. In so doing, it can give effect to the indivisibility and interdependence of civil and political, socio-economic, and cultural rights.

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“…Despite such concerns, the fact that tangible heritage sites embody a host of intangible practices that are central to the identity of a given community can make such sites a target in conflict; a means of undermining, defeating or even obliterating an opponent's culture (Herscher, 2010;Viejo-Rose and Sørensen, 2015). In its worst iterations, the destruction of tangible heritage sites can mean that a given community is unable to practise its intangible heritage -including specific rituals, ceremonies, artistic performances and artisanal skills -leading to the loss of their culture and the erasure of a way of life (Meharg, 2001).…”

Section: Tangible and Intangible Heritagementioning

confidence: 99%

The Islamic State’s destruction of Yezidi heritage: Responses, resilience and reconstruction after genocide

Isakhan

Shahab

2019

Journal of Social Archaeology

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After conquering large swathes of northern Iraq, the Islamic State undertook an aggressive genocidal campaign against the Yezidi people in which they not only executed and enslaved thousands of innocent civilians, but also damaged or destroyed several key Yezidi temples and shrines. Drawing on a small sample of in-depth semi-structured interviews with Yezidi men and women from two regions conquered by the Islamic State, this article documents the effect this wave of persecution has had on these Yezidi individuals. It finds that the attacks by the Islamic State on Yezidis and their heritage sites have caused considerable suffering among the community, in part because of their inability to practise their intangible religious rituals and customs. However, the Yezidi people have also demonstrated remarkable resistance and resilience to the Islamic State genocide in terms of returning to their ancient homelands, reconstructing their heritage sites and the re-emergence of their intangible religious heritage practices. The article concludes by noting that the new insights gleaned from these interviews are a step towards better understanding the relationship between tangible and intangible heritage in the wake of conflict, genocide and mass heritage destruction.

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Cultural Heritage and Armed Conflict: New Questions for an Old Relationship

Cited by 16 publications

References 12 publications

(Re)calibrating heritage: Al-Jdeideh (post-)conflict transformations in Aleppo, Syria

(Re)calibrating heritage: Al-Jdeideh (post-)conflict transformations in Aleppo, Syria

Picking up the pieces: Transitional justice responses to destruction of tangible cultural heritage

The Islamic State’s destruction of Yezidi heritage: Responses, resilience and reconstruction after genocide

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