The relation between nation-state and heritage. Expert Interview: Dick Douwes

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Del curso dictado por Universiteit Leiden

Heritage under Threat

69 calificaciones

Universiteit Leiden

Heritage under Threat

69 calificaciones

In this course you will learn to articulate your own concepts about (threatened) heritage and that of others. What is your heritage? Who defines heritage? Why is heritage under threat? How can we protect heritage? WW1, WW2, Cold war politics and contemporary conflicts as well as continuing political and socio-economic inequalities and colonial pasts are all factors playing a role in the global heritage discussions and approaches to (or lack of ) valorization and protection of heritage. Hence, issues behind destruction or threats to heritage are related to complex issues, often connected to complex landscapes of wars, the war-on-terror, fundamentalism, migration, global warming, financial crises, inequality and diverse interests of local communities. This course, sponsored by the LDE Centre for Global Heritage and Development and the Honours Academy of Leiden University, and the Netherlands Commission for UNESCO gave its support to one of the sections of the MOOC, will explore these issues. We wish to engage global communities and widen the perspective on threatened heritage. You can help us with this.

De la lección

Heritage and inequality

Hi everybody welcome to the second module! Last week we talked about the concept of heritage and how heritage can be very personal. This week we will dive into how heritage is actually defined, both within the field of (archaeological) heritage management, as well as for local communities. We will also discuss various forms of inequality which unfortunately can come with defining and framing something as heritage. Please watch the video's we have prepared for you first and then proceed with the quizz and case study!

Who defines heritage8:34

Conceptualising heritage. Expert interview with Dick Douwes4:17

Who defines heritage? Expert interview with Koosje Spitz from UNESCO4:47

The changing values of heritage. Expert interview with Koosje Spitz14:45

Indigenous definition of 'heritage'. Expert Interview: Manuel May Castillo7:09

What is shared about World Heritage? Expert Interview: Koosje Spitz2:22

The relation between nation-state and heritage. Expert Interview: Dick Douwes5:52

Conoce a los instructores

Dr. Sada Mire, Assistant Professor

Faculty of Archeology, LDE Centre for Global Heritage and Development

The interesting thing about shrines, shrine culture,

is that it basically is not so much connected to the nation state.

Of course you have secular shrines in Syria, quite a number but

these are not religious.

A good example is the shrine of Sayidda Zeinab, to the south of Damascus.

It's a very old shrine, dedicated to a daughter of Imam Ali,

a central figure in Muslim history, but in particular, in Shiite history.

For both Shiites and Sunnis, this was a sacred place but

we already saw before the war that the Iranian government was sending

many pilgrims from Iran and later, also pilgrims from Iraq to these shrines.

And they accommodated the pilgrims by hiring hotels,

by building lodges but also what they did, is basically restructuring the shrines,

expanding them and also giving them a Iranian look.

And by doing so, they basically disconnected the shrine from the local

community of both local Shiites, and local Sunnis and

made it a goal for religious tourism, basically, from Iran and Iraq, mainly.

Syrian shrine structures are traditionally very sober.

Iranian ones are not sober.

They have mirrors, silver, gold, tiles, it's a lot of bling bling.

And basically whenever the Iranian governments invests in France,

in Syria, or even in Jordan, as they did,

all these shrines are turned into sort of Iranian fashion shrines.

Basically for an audience which is regional and not national.

In a way, this is a threat, of course because it changes the relation

of the local community with the shrines but also, it's the future of the shrines.

It is a broadening of heritage, especially in the war period,

some of these shrines are basically centers of

mobilizing people both from Syria and from the region.

And a shrine like Zeinab attracts militia from Iraq,

from Lebanon, from Iran, from Afghanistan, from Pakistan.

And they basically are there to protect the shrine,

which is a risky business because Islamist groups in particular,

they target the shrine by car bombs by firing range rockets.

So many people all ready died in the process of protection but

the shrine is still not occupied by enemy forces.

It's not the only example,

Sayidda Zeinab is not the only example of a translocal, transnational shrine.

When we look at fairly traditional shrines, and

the network of shrines, it's fairly interesting to note that there are three

saints which are very common in the area, the most common ones and they overlap.

For the Jews, it will be Elijah, the prophet, from the testament,

for the Christians, it will be St George, the knight who saved the virgin.

And for the Muslims, they call the same sort of entity, And

there are thousands of places dedicated in the entire area, which

that is from the Balkans up to India, dedicated to either St George,

Elias, or And Muslims would say, I go to visit Heter.

Christians would say I'm visiting St George, or Elias, and

there's more Jewish communities they stick to Elijah.

So these are all structures and the main, the largest shrines,

often Christian ones, attract audiences as far as from Canada.

Basically are the Middle Eastern and diaspora.

So you see the diasporic communities, in particularly Lebanon but

also in Syria also invest in shrine facilities in Syria and Lebanon.

A famous one is the cave in which

the Prophet Elijah was supposed to have been hiding for

a long time when he lived in de dessert and he was fed, braid by ravens.

It used to be a very small shrine and then we know that around 1900,

there was a larger structure built close to the shrine.

And just before the war, there was a huge church being built on top of the hill,

with many facility for hotels, a bus terminal.

And this was mainly to cater for the Christian diasporic community and

so the shrines developed from smaller, local places and

they stretched right over the globe as places of heritage.

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