HERITAGE: POLITICS AND PRACTICES IN THE ISLAMIC WORLD

This course forms part of the educational offer of the Master's degree programmes in Language and Civilisation of Asia and Mediterranean Africa (Near and Middle East), Transmediterranean Studies: Migration, Cooperation and Development, and Ancient Civilisations: Literature, History and Archaeology. It expands students’ knowledge of, and capacity to analyse and understand, the cultures and societies of the Near and Middle East by focusing on cultural heritage, and archaeology in particular, and on its role in the construction of communal and state identities. Through a series of case studies, students will examine the processes of heritage-making and identity formation, and their relationship with politics, from colonial and imperialist perspectives to the establishment of nationalism and the emergence of decolonisation processes.

Students will acquire the knowledge and skills to analyse and critically deconstruct the processes of patrimonialisation in the Near and Middle East, initiated by colonial powers and subsequently pursued by nation-states, up to the most recent decolonial perspectives. They will develop an understanding of, and the ability to interrogate critically, the complex dynamics that have shaped the practice and ethics of archaeological research and informed the development of policies of preservation, enhancement, and musealisation of heritage in the context of the profound transformations that have affected the Near and Middle Eastern regions.

No specific prior knowledge or competences are required.

The course will address the following main themes:
- the emergence of archaeology in the Near East: colonial policy and patrimonialisation; the construction of Mesopotamia; the imperial museum;
- cultural heritage and nation-building: the case of Iraq, from the monarchy to Saddam Hussein; Mustafa Kemal’s Turkey;
- the epistemology of conservation and restoration practices; the value of authenticity; communities and their cultures;
- the international community and heritage protection: from colonialism to UNESCO; destruction, looting, and restitution.
Case studies
- Contested spaces: al-Haram al-Sharif in Jerusalem;
- Cultural appropriation and human rights: from Jerusalem to Silwan;
- Conservation and preservation for the community: Darb al-Ahmar in Cairo;
- Heritage-making in Qatar between Islamic art, ethnography, and oil;
- Urbicide: the case of Jaffa.

Materials will be made available on the Moodle platform.
Items marked with an asterisk (*) are optional.

AAVV, The Azhar Park Project in Cairo and the Conservation and Revitalization of Darb al-Ahmar, The Agha Khan Trust for Culture, on-line publication (pdf)
Ç. Atakuman, Cradle or crucible: Anatolia and archaeology in the early years of the Turkish Republic (1923-1938), Journal of Social Archaeology 2008, pp. 214-235 (pdf)
Z. Bahrani, Conjuring Mesopotamia. Imaginative geography and a world past, in Lynn Meskell (ed.) Archaeology Under Fire. Nationalism, politics and heritage in the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East, London and New York 1998, pp. 159-174 (pdf)
M. T. Bernhardsson, Archaeology and Nationalism in Iraq, 1921-2003, in R. Boytner, L. Swartz Dodd, B. J. Parker (eds) Controlling the Past, Owning the Future, Tucson, 2010, pp. 55-67 (pdf)
R. Daher e I. Maffi, Introduction, in R. Daher e I. Maffi (eds) The politics and practices of cultural heritage in the Middle East, London 2014, pp. 1-38 (pdf)*
Chiara Dezzi Bardeschi, Archeologia e Conservazione, Milano 2007: Il dibattito sull’autenticità, pp. 227 e 230 (pdf)
Marco Dezzi Bardeschi, Il valore discriminante dell'autenticità prima e dopo Nara, ANAGK 52, 2007, pp. 70- 73 (pdf)
M. Diaz-Andreu, Guest editor's introduction. Nationalism and archaeology, Nations and Nationalism 7 (4), 2001, 429-440 (pdf)*
K. A. Eggeling, Cultural diplomacy in Qatar: Between ‘virtual enlargement’, national identity construction and elite legitimation, International Journal of Cultural Policy 23 (2) 2017, pp. 1-15 (pdf)
EMEK SHAVEH (ONG), The Temple Mount/ Haram al-Sharif – Archaeology in a Political Context, pubblicazione on-line (http://alt-arch.org/en/ ) (pdf)
K. Exell and T. Rico, ‘There is no heritage in Qatar’: Orientalism, colonialism and other problematic histories, World Archaeology 45 (4) 2013, pp. 670-685 (pdf)
K. Exell, Desiring the past and reimagining the present: contemporary collecting in Qatar, Museum & Society 14 (2) 2016, pp. 259-274 (pdf)
M. P. Guermandi, Decolonizzare il patrimonio: Cap. 3. UNESCO, un patrimonio universale con un’anima occidentale, Roma 2021, pp. 82-106 (pdf)
Ö. Harmanşah, ISIS, Heritage, and the Spectacles of Destruction in the Global Media, Near Eastern Archaeology 78 (3), Special Issue: The Cultural Heritage Crisis in the Middle East (September 2015), pp. 170-177 (pdf)*
M. Hawari, Silwan: Biblical Archaeology, Cultural Appropriation, and Settler Colonialism, Jerusalem Quarterly 90, 2022, pp. 75-97 (pdf)
D. Hull, Orientalism: Islamic Archaeology and Its Colonial Context, in Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology 2013 (on-line)*
M. Melotti, Turismo archeologico. Dalle piramidi alle veneri di plastica, Milano, Mondadori, 2008: selected chapters (pdf)
S. Mulder, War and Recovery, The Oxford Handbook of Islamic Archaeology, Oxford 2020, pp. 707-730 (pdf)
A. Ricci, A. Yılmaz, Urban Archaeology and Community Engagement: the Küçükyalı ArcheoPark, in Istanbul, in CABI 2016, pp. 41-62 (pdf)*
Sh. Rotbard, White City, Black City. Architecture and War in Tel Aviv and Jaffa, London 2015: selected chapters (pdf)
Edward Said, Introduzione, Orientalismo, trad. italiana 1991, pp. 3-31 (pdf)
D. Shankland, Afterword: Heritage, Nationalism and Archaeology in the Republic of Turkey, in S. Redford and N. Ergin (eds.) Perceptions of The Past in the Turkish Republic: Classical and Byzantine Periods, Leuven, 2010, pp. 225-236 (pdf)
A. D. Smith, Authenticity, antiquity and archaeology, Nations and Nationalism 7 (4), 2001, pp. 441-449 (pdf)
L. Zagato e S. Pinton, Lezioni di diritto internazionale ed europeo del patrimonio culturale 2: Circolazione e restituzione, Venezia, 2018: 8 e 11 (pdf)

Students’ learning will be assessed in two complementary ways:
A) 35% of the final mark
Students are required to submit an essay of 3,500–5,000 words at least one week before the date of the oral examination. The essay should focus on an archaeological site or, alternatively, a museum, chosen by the student and agreed with the lecturer; alternatively, it may address a specific topic. In this work, students will be expected to demonstrate that they have acquired the critical skills and methodological tools necessary to understand the full process of patrimonialisation, from research to enhancement, within the context of local political dynamics and practices, and to approach these issues critically.
B) 65% of the final mark
During the oral examination, students will be asked to discuss some of the topics covered in class, with the support of images. This part of the examination is intended to verify that students have acquired a sound basic knowledge of the themes and case-studies addressed during the course, as well as the appropriate critical skills to engage with them effectively.

oral

The lecturer has a duty to ensure that the rules regarding the authenticity and originality of exam tests and papers are respected. Therefore, if there is suspicion of irregular conduct, an additional assessment may be conducted, which could differ from the original exam description.

A. Marks from 18 to 22 will be awarded where the student demonstrates:
• a basic knowledge and understanding of the course contents;
• a limited ability to collect and interpret data or to formulate independent judgements;
• sufficient communication skills.

B. Marks from 23 to 26 will be awarded where the student demonstrates:
• an adequate knowledge and understanding of the course contents;
• a fair ability to collect and interpret data and to formulate independent judgements;
• adequate communication skills, particularly in the use of the specific terminology of cultural heritage.

C. Marks from 27 to 30 will be awarded where the student demonstrates:
• a good or excellent knowledge and understanding of the course contents;
• a sound ability to collect and interpret data and to formulate well-argued independent judgements;
• effective and appropriate communication skills, with a confident command of the specialist language of cultural heritage.

D. Distinction (30 cum laude) will be awarded where the student demonstrates:
• exceptional knowledge and understanding of the course contents;
• excellent critical and evaluative skills;
• outstanding communication skills and full command of the disciplinary language.

Teaching will be delivered through face-to-face classes supported by visual materials, which will be made available on the Moodle e-learning platform. Part of the course will be conducted in seminar format, and students will be expected to contribute to class discussions on the basis of assigned readings.