The Politics of Post-Conflict Heritage Reconstruction by Munawar, Nour A.; Plets, Gertjan;

Long description:

This edited volume explores the politics and semantics of heritage rehabilitation practices such as conservation, archaeological excavation, memorialization and rebuilding programs.

Recent conflicts in the Arab region and Ukraine have demonstrated how heritage is an intrinsic part of contemporary warfare. However, the politicization of heritage reconstruction after conflict receives less attention. While there is consensus on the benefits of reconstruction, a growing number of scholars are now exploring the political agendas encoded in reconstruction programs, and their long-term negative effects on societal recovery. Faced with a contemporary heritage reconstruction wave in the Arab region, but also in (post-)conflict zones like West-Africa and Ukraine, it is important we are aware of the politicking encoded in many heritage aid programs. Through a series of co-authored studies by experts from different disciplines this book aims to identify parameters, practices and institutional organizations that either promote or undermine long-term societal resilience. By combining insights from archaeology, anthropology, conflict and history, this book will explore how heritage reconstructions help to re-shape national and ethno-religious identities and multi-layered memories of affected communities.

Table of Contents:

Chapter 1: Introduction: Theories and temporalities of post-conflict heritage: The importance of a normative approach.- Chapter 2: “We are the Masters” The prioritized reconstruction of Ypres (Belgium, World War I).- Chapter 3: The quotidianisation of spaces of violence: On how spaces of violence from the Spanish Civil War became normalised by the active choice of “leaving them be”.- Chapter 4: Reconstructing the phantom: The imagined heritage of the Saxon Palace in Warsaw.- Chapter 5:The Bridge to Transition: Post-conflict heritage as a tool of development in Mostar (Bosnia and Herzegovina).- Chapter 6: The roots of recovery: Àbàchà and the reconstruction of Intangible Heritage in postwar southeastern Nigeria.- Chapter 7: “Save Carthage”: Post-Conflict Reconstruction in Postcolonial Tunisia.- Chapter 8: Governing Cultural Heritage in Time of Crises: Case study: Borobudur, Indonesia.- Chapter 9: Post-conflict Risks to Built Heritage Through the Lens of the Libyan City of Benghazi.- Chapter 10: The Trojan Horse of St. George on Tbilisi’s Freedom Square and Lessons from Georgia's post-2003 Reconstruction.- Chapter 11: Postscript: The Battle for Ukrainian Heritage: Reconstruction and Memory-making.