Heritage and conflict come together before the first shots are fired, when it is used in propaganda to redraw and normalize new boundaries of belonging and identity. The relationship is drawn together even more tightly as the war begins, when the deliberate destruction of heritage is used as a way of targeting certain groups and communities. In the aftermath of this direct violence, and in the context of a transformed heritage landscape, the construction of an explicitly ‘revised’ heritage begins, in which different elements of the past are selected for reconstruction and others discarded. This research theme seeks to: i) explore the dynamics of cultural violence at the core of how heritage comes to be used during conflicts and in the aftermaths of such violence, ii) approach reconstruction processes as future-orientated actions in which decisions about the reconstruction (down to the materials and styles employed) have consequences for the values and means that the heritage comes to possess, and iii) the reparation strategies that include memorial practices and symbolic reparations to moral harm. To do this, researchers often work alongside and develop partnerships with international organisations (e.g. UN Security Council, UNESCO, the ICC) as well as NGOs working in the conflict-affected regions of the world. They seek to develop technologies and approaches to prevent destruction and respond to it. In doing so drawing on law, politics, anthropology and the digital humanities.
People specializing in this area
Partner, Cambridge Heritage Research Centre
University Senior Lecturer in Middle Eastern Studies
Assistant Director, HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Centre of Islamic Studies
Postdoctoral Member, Cambridge Heritage Research Centre
Affiliated Scholar, McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research
Partner, Cambridge Heritage Research Centre
Associate Professor and Academic Director in Archaeology, Institute of Continuing Education
Fellow and Director of Studies in Archaeology, St Catharine's College
Member of UK delegation, IHRA
Graduate Member, Cambridge Heritage Research Centre
PhD Student in Archaeology
Graduate Member, Cambridge Heritage Research Centre
PhD Student in Archaeology
Partner, Cambridge Heritage Research Centre
Affiliated Lecturer, Department of Social Anthropology
Fellow and College Lecturer, Murray Edwards College
01223 762244
Graduate Member, Cambridge Heritage Research Centre
PhD Student in Archaeology
Visiting Scholar, Cambridge Heritage Research Centre
Postdoctoral Researcher, CRASSH
Graduate Member, Cambridge Heritage Research Centre
PhD Student in Archaeology
Graduate Member, Cambridge Heritage Research Centre
PhD Student in Archaeology
Postdoctoral Member, Cambridge Heritage Research Centre
Postdoctoral Fellow
Partner, Cambridge Heritage Research Centre
Assistant Professor in Heritage Studies, Department of Archaeology
Graduate Member, Cambridge Heritage Research Centre
PhD Student in Archaeology
PhD Title: (Re)use and valuation of historic buildings - a comparison between the AHD and private individuals
Director Emeritus, Cambridge Heritage Research Centre
Emeritus Professor of European Prehistory and Heritage Studies, Department of Archaeology
01223 333522
Graduate Member, Cambridge Heritage Research Centre
PhD Student in Archaeology, Gates Cambridge Scholar
PhD title: Political liminality and the heritage of oppression: The case of post-junta Myanmar
Director, Cambridge Heritage Research Centre
Associate Professor in Heritage and the Politics of the Past, Department of Archaeology
01223 333500
Graduate Member, Cambridge Heritage Research Centre
PhD Student in Archaeology