Decolonising a Profession: Built Heritage Conservation and Management in Post-Colonial Egypt

职业非殖民化：后殖民时期埃及的建筑遗产保护和管理

• 批准号: 2710870
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Edinburgh
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2710870
• 关键词: Decolonising; Profession; Built; Heritage; Conservation

Across many formerly-colonised countries, the journey towards independence materialized in different ways including "independent industrialisation, cultural renewal, political self-determination, or the nationalisation of assets" (Salem, 2019). However, despite these efforts, the consequences of colonialism are ever-present (Said, 1994). Therefore, decolonisation should not be approached as a 'historical era,' but as a complex multifaceted process "whose manifestations, while anchored in the post-war era, transcend it in significant ways" (Schayegh & Di-Capua, 2020). In this context, this research problematizes the continuing impact of colonialism on heritage conservation in post-colonial contexts, focusing on Egypt. Through the lens of post-colonial studies, it will address three main lines of inquiry: Who was responsible for heritage conservation in colonial Egypt? What was considered 'heritage' then? How was built heritage conservation and management approached? What are the factors that shaped heritage practices in post-colonial Egypt? How are these practices affected by post-colonial politics and policies? How can colonial legacies be addressed within built heritage conservation and management in post-colonial contexts? Until full independence in the 1950s, Egyptian heritage discourses and practices were dominated by colonial and foreign elites, whose notions and practices of heritage were often incompatible with the local context (Elhabashi, 2001). Despite decolonization efforts, many of these outdated western-based notions and practices which originated in colonial times have continued to this day. This can be due to several factors including: the perception in post-colonial contexts that Western is synonymous with Modern (Vawda, 2019) that post-independence, Egypt inherited colonial institutions along with their practices (Helfont, 2015)- in this case the Comité de Conservation des Monuments de l'Art Arabe and the Service des Antiquités (Fahmy, 2016) The Globalisation of heritage with organisations such as UNESCO, ICCROM, and ICOMOS which, despite efforts to the contrary, further strengthened western ideas of heritage and disregarded local contexts and traditional knowledge systems (Ndoro & Wijesuriya, 2015) The "scarce engagement with epistemological and theoretical spheres" addressing the definition and conservation of heritage in the Arab region (Daher, 2021) Today, this can be observed in the rigid top-down 'monumentalist' approach which treats built heritage as artefacts isolated from the surrounding fabric and communities, disregards intangible aspects, and reinforces an "orientalist-like representation of historic city inhabitants" (Moustafa & Said, 2020). The result is a museumification of living heritage, the appreciation of 'ancient' heritage over other heritage types (Daher, 2021), and an uneasy relationship between heritage conservation and urban development (Ndoro & Wijesuriya, 2015). Despite increasing scholarly interest in heritage, conservation and decolonisation, historical understanding of the interplay between these fields is still lacking. Recent scholarship has focused on inter- and post-war periods but the post-imperial era requires further research (Carruthers, 2019). This is certainly the case in Egypt where previous research has focused on the colonial era. However, there remains a disparity when it comes to post-independence heritage practices. By addressing this gap, the research will contribute to the area of entanglement between decolonisation and heritage. This constitutes a timely area of inquiry as it addresses the root causes of many issues plaguing built heritage in postcolonial contexts. It also builds on recent discourses on the colonial legacies of Egyptology. However, these have mainly focused on archaeological and museum practices, and have not yet been extended to built heritage.

在许多前殖民地国家，独立之旅以不同的方式实现，包括“独立工业化，文化复兴，政治自决或资产国有化”（塞勒姆，2019）。然而，尽管作出了这些努力，殖民主义的后果始终存在（Said，1994年）。因此，非殖民化不应被视为一个“历史时代”，而应被视为一个复杂的多方面过程，“其表现形式虽然植根于战后时代，但在重要方面超越了它”（Schayegh & Di-Capua，2020）。在这种情况下，这项研究problematizes在后殖民背景下，殖民主义对遗产保护的持续影响，重点放在埃及。通过后殖民研究的透镜，它将解决三个主要问题：谁负责在殖民埃及的遗产保护？什么叫“遗产”？如何保护和管理建筑遗产？是什么因素塑造了后殖民埃及的遗产实践？这些做法如何受到后殖民政治和政策的影响？在后殖民背景下，如何在建筑遗产保护和管理中处理殖民遗产？在20世纪50年代完全独立之前，埃及的遗产论述和做法一直由殖民地和外国精英主导，他们的遗产观念和做法往往与当地情况不相容（Elhabashi，2001年）。尽管作出了非殖民化努力，但许多源自殖民时代的过时的西方观念和做法一直延续到今天。这可能是由于几个因素，包括：后殖民语境中西方与现代同义的观念（Vawda，2019）独立后，埃及继承了殖民机构沿着他们的做法（Helfont，2015年）-在这种情况下，阿拉伯艺术古迹保护委员会和古董服务（Fahmy，2016年）联合国教科文组织、国际文化财产保护与修复研究中心和国际古迹遗址理事会等组织的遗产全球化，尽管有相反的努力，但进一步强化了西方的遗产观念，忽视了当地的背景和传统知识体系。（Ndoro和Wijesuriya，2015年）阿拉伯地区遗产定义和保护方面的“认识论和理论领域的参与不足”（Daher，2021）今天，这可以在刚性顶部中观察到，放弃“纪念主义”方法，将建筑遗产视为与周围结构和社区隔离的文物，忽视无形方面，并加强了“历史城市居民的东方主义代表”（穆斯塔法和赛义德，2020）。其结果是活遗产的博物馆化，对“古代”遗产的欣赏超过其他遗产类型（Daher，2021），以及遗产保护和城市发展之间的不稳定关系（Ndoro & Wijesuriya，2015）。尽管学术界对遗产、保护和非殖民化的兴趣越来越大，但对这些领域之间相互作用的历史理解仍然缺乏。最近的奖学金集中在战争期间和战后时期，但后帝国时代需要进一步研究（Carruthers，2019）。这当然是在埃及的情况下，以前的研究集中在殖民时代。然而，在独立后的遗产做法方面仍然存在差异。通过解决这一差距，研究将有助于非殖民化和遗产之间的纠缠领域。这构成了一个及时的调查领域，因为它解决了后殖民背景下建筑遗产中许多问题的根源。它还建立在最近关于殖民主义遗产的论述的基础上。然而，这些活动主要侧重于考古和博物馆活动，尚未扩展到建筑遗产。