University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Theses (Historic Preservation) Graduate Program in Historic Preservation 2010 Cultural Heritage in Conflict: orldW Heritage Cities of the Middle East Elvan Cobb University of Pennsylvania,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/hp_theses Part of the Historic Preservation and Conservation Commons Cobb, Elvan, "Cultural Heritage in Conflict: orldW Heritage Cities of the Middle East" (2010). Theses (Historic Preservation). 138. https://repository.upenn.edu/hp_theses/138 Suggested Citation: Cobb, Elvan. (2010) "Cultural Heritage in Conflict: orldW Heritage Cities of the Middle East." (Masters Thesis). University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA. This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/hp_theses/138 For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Cultural Heritage in Conflict: orldW Heritage Cities of the Middle East Abstract Following World War I and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the political and population dynamics of the Middle East changed dramatically. New national borders, defined either yb western mandates or by local sovereignties, included peoples and architectural legacies from a variety of religions and ethnicities. Under the unifying pressures of national ideologies, the diverse groups of the Middle East that coexisted under the Ottoman Empire were often pitted against each other. These negative dynamics among people were expressed as conflicts involving the built heritage of the 'other.' These conflicts sometimes ookt center stage, sometimes occurred stealthily and under the disguise of development and progress, and sometimes out of lack of respect for the past in general. One of the core ideals of the World Heritage Convention has been to create unity among people by identifying outstanding examples of heritage that are 'universal' to humankind.