<
https://theconversation.com/reconstructing-heritage-after-war-what-we-learned-from-asking-1-600-syrians-about-rebuilding-aleppo-229627>
"War brings not just unimaginable human suffering, but also the destruction of
significant heritage sites.
Israel’s bombardment of Gaza reportedly wrecked the once-majestic Great Omari
Mosque late last year. A Russian attack reportedly did significant damage to
the Church of the Holy Mother of God in Ukraine. Recent wars in places like
Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria have also destroyed other important heritage sites.
We were interested by how locals in conflict zones felt heritage sites should
be rebuilt after wars end, and who should do it.
To find out more, we surveyed 1,600 residents in the Syrian city of Aleppo
about heritage restoration projects in their city. Aleppo saw untold amounts of
human and heritage devastation during a conflict that spanned the years
2012–16.
Our research, published in the
International Journal of Heritage Studies,
identified four key themes:
* locals don’t want heritage reconstruction to be privileged over security
* they want local religious sites rebuilt as much as significant non-religious
sites
* they want heritage sites transformed into more useful structures for the
community
* and they want control and agency over the future of their own heritage.
Our findings aren’t only important for Syria. They also hold important clues
about how we might approach heritage restoration projects in other
post-conflict sites."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
