Cultural Heritage in Post-Conflict Contexts

Cases from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
1. Auflage 2026
ISBN: 978-1-032-77448-0
Verlag: Routledge

Buch, Englisch, 268 Seiten, Format (B × H): 161 mm x 240 mm, Gewicht: 519 g

Reihe: Cultural Heritage, Art and Museums in the Middle East

Cultural Heritage in Post-Conflict Contexts confronts the politics and dynamics of cultural heritage in the aftermath of conflict across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, demonstrating that reconstruction is never neutral, recovery is rarely complete, and the past is contested terrain.

Drawing on case studies from Palestine, Syria, Libya, Iraq, Iran, and Sudan, contributors interrogate the assumptions that shape post-conflict heritage practice: whose past gets preserved, whose memory is memorialised, and whose communities are consulted — or sidelined — in the process. The book's chapters examine the affective and therapeutic dimensions of heritage in exile and return; the ethics of reconstruction and digital rebuilding, from Palmyra to al-Raqqa; the role of international actors, from EU policy in Libya to Russian media framing of Syria; and the political weaponisation of heritage evidence itself, including the widespread falsification and erasure of heritage in Palestine. Cultural Heritage in Post-Conflict Contexts challenges the hierarchies inherited from colonial-era heritage frameworks and asks what a decolonial, community-centred practice might look like on the ground.

Combining a diverse range of theoretical and empirical perspectives on post-conflict heritage interventions, Cultural Heritage in Post-Conflict Contexts is a critical reckoning with the question that lingers when the dust settles: heritage for whom, and at what cost? The volume appeals for researchers and students in heritage studies, memory studies, museum studies, archaeology, architecture, history, peace and conflict studies, and anthropology.

Zielgruppe

Academic and Postgraduate

Autoren/Hrsg.

Munawar, Nour A.

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Kunst Kunstgeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Kunst Kunst, allgemein Kunstsammlung, Museen, Ausstellungen
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Naher & Mittlerer Osten
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Afrikanische Geschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. When the Dust Settles: Critical Perspectives on Post-Conflict Heritage Recovery PART I Heritage as a Therapy: Memory, Communities, and Responses 2. Emotions and Cathartic Practice: A Theoretical Framework for Affective Ethnography in Post-Conflict Cultural Heritage 3. Cultural Heritage and Exile 4. Issues and Challenges to Engaging Local Communities in Post-Conflict Archaeology and Archaeological Heritage 5. Memories, Collective yet Divided: The Potentials of Postwar Memorialisation in Aleppo PART II Ours and Theirs: Heritage Responses and International Community 6. Post-Conflict Virtual Reconstruction in Palmyra: Displaced Syrian Communities in Jordan Engage with their Cultural Heritage 7. Whose Common Values and Culture? Examining EU Policy on Post-Conflict Rehabilitation of Cultural Heritage in Sabratha, Libya 8. Cultural Heritage in Palestine between Political Chaos and Systematic Falsification of Evidence 9. Preserving Community-Led Digital Heritage and the Tender Return of Displaced Voices in al-Raqqa, Syria 10. Russian Media and the Framing of Heritage Protection in Syria PART III Cultural Heritage in Post-Conflict MENA: Comparative Approaches 11. Historic Ties and Modern Conflicts: The Heritage of Iran and Iraq and Its Implications for Regional Dynamics 12. Reconstruction Approaches for Historical Buildings in the Ancient City of Aleppo 13. Reflections on Continuity and Change: Post-Conflict Recovery of the Historic City of Benghazi, Libya 14. The Impact of War on UNESCO World Heritage Sites: The Case of Dar Qita 15. Postscript: Cultural Heritage in Sudan: Preservation and Risk Mitigation During the Civil War (2023-2024)

Über Autor(innen)

Nour A. Munawar is an archaeologist and UNESCO heritage expert. He earned his PhD in 2021 and is currently Research Fellow at the University of Amsterdam, where his research explores heritage, memory, and decoloniality in the Global South. He was recently commissioned by UNESCO to lead a research project on documentary heritage in the Arab region.