Event: WEDS TALKS: Captive Sites:Official Heritage and Armenian Memory in Turkey

ABSTRACT: How can we think critically about minoritization in relation to official processes of heritage-making? Is the culture of the minoritized community included in the official state heritage, is it excluded, erased or appropriated? What are the implications for the cultural heritage sector in general, and for specific sites in particular? The history and cultural heritage of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire and Turkey over the course of the 20th century shed light on the long-term impacts of genocide, minoritization, and state power. During the Genocide and its aftermath, sites associated with Armenian culture, particularly religious sites, were destroyed, or repurposed, appropriated, sold or transferred. Some of them eventually became cultural heritage sites as part of state patrimony and were sundered from their connection to any remaining Armenian communities. The Pulitzer-prize winning poet and writer Peter Balakian named “captive sites” those cultural heritage sites in Turkey that have historic links to Armenians yet with which Armenians are prevented from having an organic or even accessible relationship. The case study is Ani, a medieval city located today on the border between Armenia and Turkey, which was listed on the UNESCO world heritage list in 2016.

BIO: Heghnar Zeitlian Watenpaugh is Professor of Art History at the University of California, Davis. She researches the diverse visual cultures of the Middle East, including architectural preservation, museums, and cultural heritage.