96063 - NATIONAL IDENTITIES, HISTORICAL MEMORY AND ARCHAEOLOGY IN WESTERN AND CENTRAL ASIA

Learning outcomes

Archaeology as a scientific discipline is quite new to Western and Central Asian countries, it was brought there during the colonial domination, direct or indirect, of the 18th and 19th centuries. Being a discipline which can produce new sources regarding each country’s past, it has played an important role in the process of formation of the national identities of some countries and it has been subjected to the necessities of politics sometimes without too much concern for the scientific aspects of research. By the end of the course, the student: knows how and on which methodological bases archaeology has developed as a scientific discipline in the various countries of Western Asia and Central Asia; is capable of understanding how often USA and European countries have used archaeology with a post-colonial approach, also from the point of view of the methodologies applied in those countries, frequently less accurate than Western standards, and has the critical tools for understanding the ideological biases which have influenced archaeological research both in the Asian countries and in Europe.

Course contents

Lesson 1
A brief historical introduction to West Asia between the 18th and 20th centuries.
Lesson 2
A brief historical introduction to Central Asia between the 18th and 20th centuries.
Lesson 3
The birth of modern states after the dissolution of the colonial empires: Turkish-Ottoman, English, French, Russian-Soviet. Nationalist ideologies.
Lesson 4
Turkey: where the millenary archaeological heritage cannot support the nationalism of the Turkish people.
Lesson 5 Syria
Syria: the flourishing archaeological research of a secular regime, the civil war and the doggedness of ISIS on the archaeological heritage.
Lesson 6
Lebanon: Phoenician identity and the centrifugal forces of a profoundly 'European' country.
Lesson 7
Palestine, Jordan and Israel. Biblical archaeology and Christian archaeology: the political instrumentalisation and confessional face of archaeology in the 'Holy Land' of the British Mandate.
Lesson 8
Iraq: Mesopotamia as supplier to the great European and American museums. Kurdistan (KRG) and the alleged Median ancestors as a nationalistic ideology.
Lesson 9
The republics of the Caucasus: the Urartian identity of the learned Armenia. Georgia undecided between East and West. The Republic of Azerbaijan in search of an otherness from Iranian Azerbaijan.
Lesson 10
The birth, development and role of archaeology in the Arabian Peninsula: how petrodollars can often make a difference.
Lecture 11
At the roots of modern and contemporary Iranian identity: the role of archaeology.
Lesson 12
The former Soviet Central Asian republics: from the great excavations of the Soviet era, in a Marxist approach, to the ethnocentric distortions of independent Turkmenistan and the creation of Uzbek, Tajik, Kazakh and Kyrgyz identities.
Lesson 13
Afghanistan between France and the Soviet Union and the subsequent Taliban disaster. Pakistan and the effort of a post-colonial archaeology.
Lesson 14
Archaeology and conservation: the destruction of heritage and the erasure of historical memory for ethnic cleansing. The cases of Palestine and Armenia.
Lesson 15
The political and cultural presence of Western countries and their role in the archaeology of West and Central Asian countries.

Readings/Bibliography

Bibliography

For an introduction to the history of Western Asia (read only):

J.L. Gelvin, The modern Middle East: a history, 5^th Edition, Oxford UP, New York 2020.

For the examination the student must carefully prepare five texts from the following list; the choice must include one or more texts relating to one of the countries covered in the course and the remaining texts chosen from those relating to common problems:

A. Bernard Knapp, “Ideology, Archaeology and Polity”, in Man, New Series, 23/1, 1988, pp. 133-163, https://doi.org/10.2307/2803037 available at https://www.jstor.org/stable/2803037

B.W. Porter, “Near Eastern Archaeology: Imperial Pasts, Postcolonial Presents, and the Possibilities of a Decolonized Future”, in J. Lydon & U.Z. Rizvi (eds.), Handbook of Postcolonial Archaeology, London 2010 (on-line 2016), available at https://www.routledgehandbooks.com/doi/10.4324/9781315427690.ch3

M. Stobiecka, “Archaeological heritage in the age of digital colonialism”, in Archaeological Dialogues, 27/2, 13/11/2020,available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/archaeological-dialogues/article/archaeological-heritage-in-the-age-of-digital-colonialism/656C0B0B42262DE846FBFAD34654397F

A. Galitzine-Loumpet, S. Gorshenina & C. Rapin, “Archéologie(s) en situation coloniale”, in Les Nouvelles de l'archéologie, Maison des Sciences de l'Homme, 2011, 126 (Déc.), pp. 3-8.

R. Boucharlat, “L'archéologie de la Perse éternelle dans la République islamique d'Iran”, in J.-C. David & S. Müller-Celka (eds.), Patrimoines culturels en Méditerranée orientale : recherche scientifique et enjeux identitaires. 2e atelier (27 novembre 2008) : Identités nationales et recherche archéologique : les aléas du processus de patrimonialisation (Levant, pays du Golfe, Iran) (Rencontres scientifiques en ligne de la Maison de l'Orient et de la Méditerranée, Lyon, 2008), Lyon 2011, pp. 1-16-

R. Daroogheh-Nokhodcheri, Nationalism, Politics, and the Practice of Archaeology: The Case Study of Iran, Durham theses, Durham University 2014. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/10658/1/thesis_alll_(hand-in_copy).pdf?DDD6+

S. Gorshenina & C. Rapin, “De l’archéologie russo-soviétique en situation coloniale à l’archéologie postcoloniale en Asie centrale”, in Les Nouvelles de l'archéologie, Maison des Sciences de l'Homme, 2011, 126 (Déc.), pp. 29-33.

L’archéologie française en Asie centrale. Nouvelles recherches et enjeux socioculturels (Cahiers de l’Asie centrale, n°21-22), Éditions de Boccard, Paris 2013. Namely the following papers: S. GORSHENINA, «L’archéologie française dans l’Asie centrale soviétique et post-soviétique» ; R. BESENVAL, «Les années noires du patrimoine archéologique d’Afghanistan (1980-2001). Chronologie d’un désastre».

L. Olivieri, Sir Aurel Stein and the ‘LORDS OF THE MARCHES’ New Archival Materials, Sang-e-Meel Publications, vol. 1, Lahore 2015.

Ch.W. Jones, “Understanding ISIS's Destruction of Antiquities as a Rejection of Nationalism”, in Journal of Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology & Heritage Studies, 6/1-2, 2018, pp. 31-58.

H. Weiss, “Archaeology in Syria”, in American Journal of Archaeology, 95/4, 1991, pp. 683-740.

N.J. Bussemake, “Imperialism’s Stepchild: Dura-Europos and the Political Uses of Imperialism’s Stepchild: Dura-Europos and the Political Uses of Archaeology in the French Mandate of Syria, 1920–1939 Archaeology in the French Mandate of Syria, 1920–1939”, Elischolar, May 2020, available at https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1104&context=mssa_collections

Y. Kanjou, “The Role of Syrian Archaeologists and Foreign Archaeological Missions in the Protection of the Syrian Heritage”, in A. Otto, M. Herles & K. Kaniuth (eds.), Proceedings of the 11th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, Wiesbaden 2020, pp. 339-350. DOI: 10.2307/j.ctv10tq3v9.31 [http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv10tq3v9.31], available at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/341096139_The_Role_of_Syrian_Archaeologists_and_Foreign_Archaeological_Missions_in_the_Protection_of_the_Syrian_Heritage

L. Gillot, “Towards a Socio-Political History of Archaeology in the Middle East: The Development of Archaeological Practice and Its Impacts on Local Communities in Syria”, in Bulletin of the History of Archaeology, 20/1, 2010, pp.4–16. DOI: http://doi.org/10.5334/bha.20102

T. Tanyeri-Erdemir, “Archaeology as a Source of National Pride in the Early Years of the Turkish Republic”, in Journal of Field Archaeology, 31/4, 2006, pp. 381-393.

P. Kohl & G. Tsetskhladze, “Nationalism, politics, and the practice of archaeology in the Caucasus”, in P. Kohl & C. Fawcett (eds.), Nationalism, Politics and the Practice of Archaeology, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996, pp. 149-174, doi:10.1017/CBO9780511558214.010

E. Cunliffe, B. Isakahn, L. Ventkatesh, Submission to Study on Intentional Destruction of Cultural Heritage Heritage Destruction in the MENA region, available at https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/CulturalRights/DestructionHeritage/NGOS/EndangeredArcheology.pdf

N. Abu El-Haj, “Archaeology and Power during the British Mandate of Palestine”, in Memory and Identity in Israel: New Directions (Israel Studies, Summer, 2002, Vol. 7, No. 2), pp. 33-61;

R.S. Hallote, A.H. Joffe, “The Politics of Israeli Archaeology: Between 'Nationalism' and 'Science' in the Age of the Second Republic”, in Memory and Identity in Israel: New Directions (Israel Studies, Summer, 2002, Vol. 7, No. 2), pp. 84-116;

I. Maffi, “The Emergence of Cultural Heritage in Jordan: The Itinerary of a Colonial Invention”, in Journal of Social Archaeology, February 2009, DOI: 10.1177/1469605308099369

L.G. Tahan, “Challenging Colonialism and Nationalism in Lebanese Archaeological Museums”, in Near Eastern Archaeology, June-September 2010, Vol. 73, No. 2/3, pp. 195-197;

Gh.J. Sayej, “Palestinian Archaeology: Knowledge, Awareness and Cultural Heritage”, in Present Pasts, Vol. 2, No. 1, 2010, 58-71, doi:10.5334/pp.22

Teaching methods

Lessons will be given by the teacher with projection of slides of main archaeological monuments.

The active collaboration of students who will volunteer to prepare a brief presentation of the essays distributed by the teacher will be organized with the attending students.

Assessment methods

The exam consists of an oral examination on the entire syllabus. The aim of the interview is to assess the methodological and critical skills acquired by the student. Given the importance of class attendance for an appropriate training process two distinct grading scales are employed: for attending and non-attending students.

Attending students

Attendance and participation count for 30% of the final grade.

In particular, the ability of the student to participate actively in class, also using multimedia and collaborative tools provided within the course, will be assessed; such capacity, if combined with the achievement of a coherent framework of the topics developed during the lessons , the application of critical sense and suitable means of expression will be considered and evaluated with the maximum grading = A (27-30 con lode).

Attendance, if joint to a predominantly mnemonic acquisition of course's contents and discontinuous language and logical skills will be assessed in a grading range from good (B = 24-26) to satisfactory (C = 21-23).

Attendance, with a minimum level of knowledge of the course contents, combined with training gaps or inadequate language and logical skills, will get as grade ‘barely passing' (D = 18-20).

The absence of a minimum level of knowledge of the course contents, combined with inadequate language and logical skills and training gaps, will produce a fail (E) grading, even in spite of an assiduous attendance.

Non-attending students

Non-attending students will be assessed primarily on the ability to use literature made available in order to properly expose the contents of the course. This ability, when combined with the achievement of a coherent framework of the course's themes, the application of critical sense, and suitable means of expression will be considered and evaluated with the maximum grading = A (27-30 con lode).

A predominantly mnemonic acquisition of course's contents along with discontinuous language and logical skills will be assessed in a grading range from good (B = 24-26) to satisfactory (C = 21- 23).

A minimum level of knowledge of the course contents, combined with training gaps or inadequate language and logical skills, will get as grade ‘barely passing' (D = 18-20).

The absence of a minimum level of knowledge of the course contents, combined with inadequate language and logical skills and training gaps, will produce a fail (E) grading.

Teaching tools

Projection of slides and distributionof plans and maps.

Students with a form of disability or specific learning disabilities (DSA) who are requesting academic adjustments or compensatory tools are invited to communicate their needs to the teaching staff in order to properly address them and agree on the appropriate measures with the competent bodies.

Office hours

See the website of Pierfrancesco Callieri