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 Despite decolonization efforts, many of these outdated western-based notions and practices which originated in colonial times have continued to this day.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.

在许多以前的殖民国家中，迈向独立的旅程以不同的方式实现，包括“独立的工业化，文化更新，政治自决或资产国有化”（Salem，2019年）。但是，这些努力，殖民主义的后果永远存在（Say，1994）。因此，非殖民化不应成为“历史时代”，而应作为一个复杂的多方面过程“在战后时代锚定，以重大的方式超越了它的表现”（Schayegh＆di-Capua，2020年）。在这种情况下，这项研究使殖民主义对遗产保护的持续影响造成了问题，重点是埃及。通过后殖民研究的镜头，它将解决三个主要询问线：谁负责埃及殖民地的遗产保护？那被认为是“遗产”？建造遗产保护和管理如何接近？在后殖民埃及塑造遗产实践的因素是什么？这些实践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解决殖民遗产？直到1950年代完全独立之前，埃及的遗产论述和实践都以殖民和外国精英为主，其遗产的笔记和实践通常与当地背景不相容（Elhabashi，2001年）。尽管做出了非殖民化的努力，但许多起源于殖民时代的基于西方的笔记和实践一直持续到今天。 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, strive effort to the contrast, 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 “纪念主义者”的方法是将遗产与周围的面料和社区隔离，无视无形的方面，并加强了“历史悠久的城市居民的东方主义般的代表”（Moustafa＆Say，2020年，2020年）。结果是对生活传统的博物馆化，对其他遗产类型的“古代”遗产的欣赏（Daher，2021），以及遗产保护与城市发展之间的不安关系（Ndoro＆Wijesuriya，2015年）。尽管对遗产，保护和非殖民化的科学兴趣越来越大，但仍然缺乏对这些领域之间相互作用的历史理解。最近的奖学金集中在战后和战后时期，但帝国后时代需要进一步的研究（Carruthers，2019年）。当然，在埃及，以前的研究集中在殖民时代。但是，在独立后遗产实践方面仍然存在差异。通过解决这一差距，该研究将有助于非殖民化与遗产之间的纠缠领域。这构成了及时的询问领域，因为它解决了在后殖民情境中建立遗产的许多问题的根本原因。它还基于最近关于埃及学殖民遗产的话语。但是，这些主要集中于考古和博物馆的实践，尚未扩展到建造遗产。