Destruction/(Re-)Construction: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Cultural Heritage in Conflict

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Destruction/(Re-)Construction: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Cultural Heritage in Conflict

Organizer
Arab-German Young Academy of Sciences and Humanities (AGYA) in collaboration with the American University of Beirut (AUB) and the Orient-Institut Beirut (OIB)
Venue
American University of Beirut
Location
Beirut
Country
Lebanon
From - Until
29.09.2019 - 02.10.2019
Website
By
Konstantin Klein, Universität Bamberg

Ruins have often captured human imagination and, in one way or another, they have been inscribed into a community’s records, memory, or lore. The history of destruction is as old as humanity. The past decades, however, have witnessed a considerable shift in the meaning attached to the deliberate destruction of buildings/monuments and the symbolic character of ruins. What has changed is the way in which acts of destruction are promulgated, celebrated, and perpetuated by being carefully staged and filmed as well as by distributing these records on video-sharing websites. Similarly, the reactions that destruction causes among the viewers of these records gained more and more importance. While ancient temples or statues feel no anguish or pain when they are blown up, it is societies that are distressed by their fate. During the past decades, there has been an ever-growing number of publications, commentaries, and conferences on the destruction of cultural heritage. At the same time, artists and writers have also turned to the question of destruction, be it under circumstances of war and conflict as outlined above, or in the context of neo-liberal urbanization and gentrification, proposing ways of challenging these developments through their artworks, installations, and writings or by initiating grass-roots projects in an attempt to preserve buildings and create awareness for their value among urban authorities.

An international and interdisciplinary conference organized by the Arab-German Young Academy of Sciences and Humanities (AGYA) aims at discussing the cycle of the creation and decay of architectural heritage from a transcultural and diachronic perspective.

Organizing Committe: Prof. Dr. Julia Hauser (Kassel/Germany), Dr. Konstantin Klein (Bamberg/Germany), Dr. Lena-Maria Möller (Hamburg/Germany), and Mohammad Alwahaib (Kuwait City/Kuwait).

Programm

Conference Programme

Monday, 30 September 2019 – American University of Beirut, College Hall B1

8:30 am Registration

9:20 am Bilal ORFALI (American University of Beirut/Lebanon)
Welcome Address

9:30 am Konstantin KLEIN (University of Bamberg/Germany)
Scales of Loss: Why Some Buildings (Seem to) Matter more than Others – Introduction to the Conference

Session 1 HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES AND APPROACHES
Chair: Luigi PRADA (University of Oxford/UK)

10:00 am Vivian IBRAHIM (University of Mississippi, Oxford/USA)
UNESCO’s "Common Trust": Saving Abu Simbel from Destruction

10:30 am Sebastian WILLERT (Technical University of Berlin/Germany)
Safeguarding "National Antiquities": Ottoman Attempts to Preserve Cultural Heritage in Syria during the First World War

11:00 am Coffee & Tea

11:30 am Aubrey YOUNG (John Hopkins University, Baltimore/USA)
Desired Pasts and Spolia: Late Antique Architectural Appropriation in Reconstruction

12 noon Rebecca MÜLLER (Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich/Germany)
Destruction and Gesture Politics in the 13th Century Mediterranean: Visualizing Conflict in the Italian Maritime Republics

12:30 pm Reem ALFURJANI (Scene for Cultural Heritage, Tripoli/Libya)
Community Uses of Ruins: The 'De-Monumenting' and 'Re-Monumenting' of a Colonial Symbol in the Medina of Tripoli/Libya

1:00 pm Lunch

[The following panels on Case Studies related to Syria and South Asia will be held in parallel session. Conference guests are therefore asked to choose between the two panels.]

Session 2a PRESERVING AND REBUILDING CULTURAL HERITAGE IN ARMED CONFLICTS: CASE STUDIES FROM SYRIA I
Chair: Zeido ZEIDO (Brandenburg University of Technology, Cottbus-Senftenberg/Germany)
AUB, College Hall B1

2:30 pm Yehya SERAG/Carsten VELLGUTH (Ain Shams University, Cairo/Egypt)
Ascertaining Damage on Sites of Historical Significance in Syria

3:00 pm Zoya MASOUD (Technical University of Berlin/Germany)
A Snapshot of Aleppo’s Memorycide: Bearing to Witness the Old City Destruction: Between Misfortune and Organised Crime

3:30 pm Coffee & Tea

Session 3a CULTURAL HERITAGE AND CONTEMPORARY DEBATES IN SOUTH ASIA I
Chair: Julia HAUSER (University of Kassel/Germany)
AUB, Auditorium C

2:30 pm Avishek RAY (National Institute of Technology Silchar/India)
Invention of Tradition and India’s 'First Residential University'

3:00 pm Swathi GORLE (Rugers University, New Brunswick/USA)
Catalyst to Conflict: The Role of World Heritage in the Sri Lankan Civil War
3:30 pm Coffee & Tea

Session 2b PRESERVING AND REBUILDING CULTURAL HERITAGE IN ARMED CONFLICTS: CASE STUDIES FROM SYRIA II
Chair: Lena-Maria MÖLLER (Max Planck Institute for Private Law, Hamburg/Germany)
AUB, College Hall B1

4:00 pm Thomas RICHARD (Centre Michel de l’Hospital de l’Université Clermont-Auvergne/France)
Filming Ruins in Syria and Iraq: Aesthetics and Meaning

4:30 pm Ayham DALAL (Technical University of Berlin/Germany)
Reflections on Practices of Mapping Spatial Memory and Urban Heritage among Displaced Syrians

5:00 pm Nura IBOLD (Brandenburg University of Technology, Cottbus-Senftenberg/Germany)
The Syrian Post-Conflict Narrative: Cultural Heritage between Destruction and Reconstruction

Session 3b CULTURAL HERITAGE AND CONTEMPORY DEBATES IN SOUTH ASIA II
Chair: Julia HAUSER (University of Kassel/Germany)
AUB, Auditorium C

4:00 pm Radhika GUPTA (Leiden University/The Netherlands)
The Aura of Ruins: Heritage and Place-Making in Kargil

4:30 pm Anubhav PRADHAN (Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi/India)/Nooreen FATIMA (Independent Scholar, Delhi/India)
Of Saints and Sultans: Mysticism, Monumentality, and Appropriation of Heritage in Sultan Garhi

5:00 pm Sarover ZAIDI (Jindal School of Art and Architecture, Delhi/India)
Of Flyovers and Muslim Mohallas: Mapping the Political Horizons of Bombay

KEYNOTE LECTURE Beit Beirut, Independence Street, Sodeko/Beirut

7:00 pm Doors open at Beit Beirut – Light Refreshments

7:40 pm Claus-Peter HAASE (Staatliche Museen zu Berlin/Germany)
Welcome Address

7:50 pm Konstantin KLEIN (University of Bamberg/Germany)
Introduction of the Speaker

8:00 pm Alexander FISCHER (University of Basel/Switzerland)
Destruction and Us: How a Burning Notre-Dame Affects Our Emotions

9:00 pm Buffet Dinner with AGYA Members and Conference Participants

Tuesday, 1 October 2019
– Hotel Le Commodore, Rue Baalbak, Conference Room

Session 4 DESTRUCTION IN PUBLIC HISTORY
Chair: Emilio BONFIGLIO (Boğaziçi University, Istanbul/Turkey)

9:00 am Sujatha CHANDRASEKARAN (Staatliche Museen zu Berlin/Germany)
Before and After World War Two: Agendas of Construction, Destruction and Reconstruction in Berlin’s Museum Island

9:30 am Meral AKBAŞ/Özge KELEKÇİ (Middle East Technical University, Ankara/Turkey)
From Factory to Museum: "They Have Stolen Our Stories"

10:00 am Zena KAMASH (Royal Holloway, London/UK)
Embracing Creativity: Crafting Heritage and Mental Wellbeing in the Post-Conflict Middle East

10:30 am Anush HOVHANNISYAN (Armenian National Academy of Sciences, Yerevan/Armenia)
The Ruins of Moush as Transporters of History and Memory

11:00 am Coffee & Tea

Session 5a LIVING WITH RUINS I
Chair: Lena-Maria MÖLLER (Max Planck Institute for Private Law, Hamburg/Germany)

11:30 am Jason BERGGREN (Georgia Southwestern State University, Americus/USA)
Beyond the Confederacy: Reimaging and Reconstructing the Cultural Landscape of the American South

12 noon Philipp GRIMBERG (Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg/Germany)
Cultural Heritage as a Political Bargaining Chip: The Case of the Yuanmingyuan in Beijing

12:30 pm Abigail STONER (Independent Scholar, Berlin/Germany)
Reconstructing the Architectural Heritage of the Bdul

1:00 pm Lunch

Session 5b LIVING WITH RUINS II
Chair: Enass KHANSA (American University of Beirut)

2:30 pm Souad SLIM (University of Balamand/Lebanon)
Restoration vs Preservation of a Ruin, or: Two Ways of Dealing with the Destruction of Cultural Heritage

3:00 pm Paola ARDIZZOLA/Roula EL KHOURY (Lebanese American University, Beirut/Lebanon)
City of Beirut Central District: Narratives of Destruction and Re-Construction

4:30 pm Walking Tour Hamra (1960s/1970s Architecture) for Conference Participants

PANEL DISCUSSION, Orient-Institut Beirut, Rue Hussain Beyhoum, Zokak el-Blat/Beirut

7:00 pm Doors open at OIB – Light Refreshments

7:15 pm Birgit SCHÄBLER (Director, Orient-Institut Beirut/Lebanon)
Welcome Address

7:30 pm Panel Discussion: CULTURAL HERITAGE IN CONFLICT: PERSPECTIVES FROM ART AND LITERATURE
Moderator: Julia HAUSER (University of Kassel/Germany)

Panel Guests: Hoda BARAKAT (Paris/France), Ali CHERRI (Paris/France), Abed AL KADIRI (Beirut/Lebanon) and Alfred TARAZI (Beirut/Lebanon)

9:00 pm Buffet Dinner with AGYA Members and Conference Participants

Wednesday, 2 October 2019
American University of Beirut, College Hall B1

Session 6 RUINS: GOOD TO THINK WITH
Chair: Stefan MANEVAL (University of Halle/Germany)
AUB, College Hall B1

9:00 am Luise FISCHER (Fraunhofer-Zentrum, Leipzig/Germany)
Geography Lessions in the 18th Century: State-Building and National Identities

9:30 am Lina TAHAN (University of Cambridge/UK)
The Ruins are in Ruins: The Constant Destruction of Heritage and its Implications on Society

10:00 am Lisa MARCHI (University of Trento/Italy)
A "Poetics of Ruins": Nadine Ltaif’s Ce que vous ne lirez pas

10:30 am Tarek TAWFIK (Cairo University/Egypt)
Being Selective with Heritage Maintenance and Reconstruction

11:00 am Coffee & Tea

Session 7 RUINS IN THE COLLECTIVE MINDSCAPE
Chair: Konstantin KLEIN (University of Bamberg/Germany)

11:30 am Andreas GRÜNER (Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg/Germany) To Be Honest – What do We Lose? Remarks on the Value of Ruined Ruins

12 noon Heba ABD El-GAWAD (Durham University/UK)
Missing Millions: Amplifying the Voice, Visibility, and Validity of Middle Eastern Local Communities in Heritage Destruction/Reconstruction Discourse

12:30 pm Jan VÖLKEL (Arnold Bergstraesser Institute, University of Freiburg/Germany)
Failing States, Fainting Researchers: How the Escalating Destruction of Humanity also Tightens its Grip over Middle East Related Scholarship

1:00 pm Lunch

[The following panels on Case Studies related to the Balkans and Palmyra will be held in parallel session. Conference guests are therefore asked to choose between the two panels.]

Session 8 REBUILDING HERITAGE: INSIGHTS FROM THE BALKANS
Chair: Ana Marija GRBANOVIC (University of Bamberg/Germany)
AUB, College Hall B1

2:30 pm Helen WALASEK (University of Exeter/UK)
Restoration as Witness: Cultural Heritage after Ethnic Cleansing in Post-Conflict Bosnia-Herzegovina

3:00 pm Yuri STOJANOV (School of Oriental and African Studies, London/UK)
Between Destruction and Disneyfication: Modern Threats to Alevi and Bektāşī Sacral Heritage in the Balkans

3:30 pm Gruia BADESCU (University of Konstanz/Germany)
Between Radical and Reflective Reconstruction: Ruins, Rebuilding, and Dealing with the Past in Post-Yugoslav Cities

4:20 pm Coffee & Tea

Session 9 ZENOBIA RECONSTRUCTED: PALMYRA IN THE DIGITAL AGE
Chair: Andreas GRÜNER (Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg/Germany)
AUB, Room 310

2:30 pm Claus-Peter HAASE (Staatliche Museen zu Berlin/Germany)
"How Much is the Rebuilding of the Bel Temple?" and Other Reactions to Destruction Images of Palmyra

3:00 pm Jennifer BAIRD (Birkbeck College, London/UK)/Zena KAMASH (Royal Holloway, London/UK)/Valeria VITALE (Institute of Classical Studies, London/UK)
Against the Archival Grain: Digital Tools for Re-Appropriation of Diasporic Archaeological Archives

3:30 pm Rory McINNES-GIBBONS (Durham University/UK)
The Lego Arch: Plural “Palmyra”: An Ancient City in the Postmodern Age

4:00 pm Konstantin KLEIN (University of Bamberg/Germany)
AGYA Project Presentation: Towards a Digital Corpus of Palmyrene Aramaic Inscriptions

4:20 pm Coffee & Tea

CONCLUDING REMARKS
5:00 pm Alexandra VUKOVICH (University of Oxford/UK)
AUB, College Hall B1

Please find below the exact address of the conference venues.

American University of Beirut
Rue Bliss
Riad El-Solh/Beirut

Beit Beirut
Elias Sarkis Avenue (Independence Street)
Sodeko/Beirut

Hotel Le Commodore
Rue Baalbak
Hamra/Beirut

Orient-Institut Beirut
Rue Hussein Beyhoum 44
Zokak el-Blat/Beirut

Contact (announcement)

Konstantin Klein

Otto-Friedrich-Universitaet Bamberg; Lehrstuhl fuer Alte Geschichte;
Fischstrasse 5-7, 96045 Bamberg
09518632349

konstantin.klein@uni-bamberg.de