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Violins and Trowels for Palmyra: Post‐

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Violins and Trowels for Palmyra: Post‐ Violins and trowels for Palmyra Post-conflict heritage politics Gertjan Plets The endless reproduction of images of plundered Palmyra. The recent biography of Palmyra does not merely Gertjan Plets is an museums, exploding mosques and bulldozed ancient sites illustrate that rehabilitation can be extremely political and anthropologist and Assistant has strongly prescribed the visual culture of the war in violent (cf. Luke 2015). By focusing on the actions of the Professor in Cultural Heritage at the Department Syria and Iraq. There is little doubt that the Islamic State’s Russian Federation in defining the future of Palmyra, I of History and Art History at (IS) carefully staged destructions have achieved their goal would like to encourage readers to look beyond the US and Utrecht University. Drawing in triggering a strong outcry from international organiza- Europe as the main players in cultural diplomacy and bring on ethnographic research tions and pundits demanding direct action against these into the international limelight the various – often unknown in Siberia, his research explores how various political ‘war crimes’ against ‘civilization’. However, not only do – heritage development programmes that different global players (ranging from many of these bold reactions lack analytical depth, but powers employ as part of their diplomatic toolkit. multinational corporations the stream of poignant statements about the loss of cul- Palmyra was first captured by IS in 2015 and it quickly to bureaucrats) use heritage and cultural memory to (re) tural objects that are intrinsically part of a Western global took centre stage in their propaganda machine; parts of the define the institutional fabric memory (e.g. Palmyra) flooding social media and main- ancient city were dynamited, hostages were beheaded in of the Russian Federation stream media outlets feels at odds with the daily humani- the ancient amphitheatre and even the caretaker of the site and normalize political tarian suffering and enormous loss of life. was publicly executed on site. On 27 March 2016, Palmyra hierarchies. He is currently 1 completing a book about the Although we should be careful with our reactions against was seized by a coalition of Syrian and Russian forces. impact of multinational energy propagandist ‘heritage’ statements directed at a Western audi- This first ‘liberation’ was quickly framed as a symbolic corporations on cultural policy ence, at the same time, we cannot deny that deconstructing victory for the Russian-Syrian alliance against ‘barbarism’ in the Russian Federation. His email is [email protected]. this heritage violence provides important insights into the and the US-led coalition. A Russian base was established multidimensionality of contemporary warfare and the impor- in the city, ironically further destroying antiquities. Various tant role of culture in perpetuating physical violence. international players were quick to demand an important Commentary from anthropologists on heritage destruc- role in the renovation efforts of the ‘pearl of the desert’. The author wishes to thank the anonymous peer reviewers tions in the Middle East has been especially successful in However, the city was recaptured in December 2016 by IS, for their valuable feedback on providing an alternative viewpoint to contributions from and several more structures were dynamited. On 3 March an earlier draft of this article. the political sciences and international relations that read 2017, Russian-Syrian forces retook Palmyra and discus- The encouragement and input from Lynn Meskell to write on the conflict predominantly through a geopolitical lens. A sions about the rehabilitation of the site resurfaced (Fig. 1). the conflict in Iraq and Syria contextual reading of the ‘spectacles of destruction’ has, Drawing on seven years of ethnographic research into from the Russian perspective for example, traced the representation strategies employed Russia’s use of heritage and memory in the manipulation were essential in structuring by terrorists in their communications with adversaries and of its domestic and diplomatic fields of practice, I will this article. Students and staff of the Stanford Archaeology recruits (Harmanşah 2015). Other work has appropriately contextualize the Russian ‘post-conflict’ manipulation of Center and Utrecht University placed recent destructions in a long history of heritage Palmyra as an artefact of political discourse. The repre- are thanked for their feedback politicization, problematizing the many colonial genealo- sentational politics will be studied to comment on how on preliminary versions of this text. gies prescribing political and cultural action in the Middle the site serves domestic political needs. The political con- East (De Cesari 2015). text of the excavation and conservation efforts led by the 1. A full timeline of the At the same time, ethnographic readings of the responses Kremlin will be discussed to explore how Palmyra’s future Russian intervention in Syria, of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural has become an important part of the Kremlin’s diplomatic and Palmyra specifically, is available on the website Organization (UNESCO) to heritage destruction in Syria portfolio. A discursive reading of recent statements and of the Kremlin-controlled have contributed to our understanding of the decision- performances by government officials and key archaeolo- news outlet RIA Novosti: making processes and power relations governing multilat- gists will serve as the empirical baseline of this study.2 https://ria.ru/trend/Palmira_ freed_27032016/. eral organizations (Meskell 2015). 2. Statements in the Russian Although further theorization about the rituality and Politics of representation press (RIA Novosti, RT and disciplinarity of heritage destruction remains imperative, One of the most notorious images of Russia’s meddling Regnum) and press bulletins destruction is often not the most contentious episode in in Syria must be the carefully choreographed spectacle from different ministries and the Kremlin will stand central a heritage object’s sociopolitical biography. The post- ‘A prayer for Palmyra’ held on 5 May 2016 in war-torn in this analysis. conflict reconstruction and rehabilitation of a monument Palmyra (Fig. 3). While sappers were still clearing explo- 3. A video of the full is often equivalently problematic (Pollock 2016). French sives, the world-renowned Mariinsky Orchestra from St concert is available on the RT website: https://www.rt.com/ and Japanese efforts to renovate Angkor Wat after the Petersburg performed three pieces of classical music in news/341983-russia-gergiev- Cambodian civil war, for example, illustrate that renova- the site’s Roman amphitheatre. Among the audience were orchestra-palmyra/. tion is often not so much about preserving the materiality leaders of Syria’s different religions, people from different 4. For the complete of the past but about ensuring appropriate futures (Peycam ethnic minorities, Syrian and Russian troops, Russian offi- interview with Karmov: https://riafan.ru/654100- 2016). At the same time, momentous investigations into cials, heritage professionals and 10 key ambassadors to palmira-budet-vosstanovlena- the strategic funding of heritage conservation by American UNESCO. Broadcast by RT (a Kremlin-controlled English rossiiskie-specialisty-dali- embassies have encouraged us to deconstruct the neo- language news agency) the concert was quickly picked up odnoznachnyi-otvet. 5. During the televised imperialisms encoded in many rehabilitation programmes by all major international 24-hour news networks. The event in Palmyra, the camera (Kersel 2015; Kersel & Luke 2015). hypermediated event not only put the revival of the Assad frequently focused on the This article aims to explore the post-conflict futures of regime into the international limelight, it also provided audience in the amphitheatre; heritage sites in Syria and Iraq. Although it is too early Putin with a unique opportunity to present his world view representatives from Syria’s different religions and people to speak of a post-conflict situation (especially since the to international and domestic audiences. from different minorities recent strikes ordered by President Trump), the territory of The whole event was framed as a voluntary initiative by dressed in traditional IS is dwindling and over the past year various factions have Russia’s cultural elite – a gift of the high arts to Palmyra, clothing were amongst the most commonly captured symbolically ‘liberated’ historical sites. Various national Syria and the whole world. In his opening statement, participants. and international players have laid the groundwork for organizer Valery Gergiev criticized the opposing interests 6. Johan Galtung first conservation and reconstruction projects, raising pertinent of the different coalitions by calling the concert an ‘appeal coined the term structural questions about the future of these heritage places. for peace and concord’.3 In a telecasted speech, President violence as a type of non- physical coercion that is ‘built One of the most enigmatic sites whose post-conflict Putin explicitly thanked Gergiev and envoys of UNESCO into the structure and shows future is being defined by a suite of international players is for the organization of this ‘great humanitarian’ event. 18 ANTHROPOLOGY TODAY VOL 33 NO 4, AUGUST 2017 up as unequal power and Despite efforts to frame the initiative as a spontaneous, tions. Furthermore,
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