Whenever we consider the connection between a community and its past we tend to focus on heritage and identity. However, communities’ concrete links to the past can create planning challenges. Times of war/conflict can exacerbate these challenges, while during periods of peace missed opportunities, a lack of scrutiny, and conservation strategies based on unfounded assumptions about communities’ identities can lead to wide-spread heritage destruction in the name of regeneration or modernity. There are many recent examples around the world of such peace-time destruction of heritage, which can be as damaging as in wartime.

In times of both peace and war, heritage and identity can be both the catalyst for and the casualties of change. In deciding what to protect, what to destroy, and whether/how to rebuild, stakeholders (states, professionals and local communities) are shaped by their concepts of heritage and identity, but these decisions in turn also shape how heritage and identity are presented and understood in the future.

This event will explore how heritage and identity can be affected in times of peace and war, and how they shape our actions and decisions, addressing the powerful interplay that places identity and heritage at the centres of our communities across all cultures, religions, politics, races, genders, and/or class divides.

This event is organised by the ICOMOS-UK and ICOMOS-Portugal Emerging Professionals Groups

About the Speakers:

Dr Ataa Alsalloum: Lecturer in Architecture and Urban Heritage at The University of Liverpool, UK

Dr Hossam Mahdy: Freelance Consultant on the Conservation of Built Heritage, Independent Researcher & Lecturer, UK

Dr Caroline Sandes: Freelance archaeological researcher and project manager specialising in cultural heritage in (post-) conflict Middle East, based in London.

The event will be co-chaired by:

Noor Ragaban: PhD candidate in Architecture at The University of Liverpool, UK

Mohamad Meqdad: PhD candidate in Critical Heritage Studies at the Department of History - Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands

Heritage and Identity in Times of War and Peace

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