Abstract
Scholars working on issues of cultural heritage politics have repeatedly argued that archaeological sites in Israel/Palestine serve as grounds for the creation of a nation-state narrative that erases other histories. Expanding on this view, my paper first explores a set of spatio-political strategies that Israeli settlers use to carve out a national space within a larger colonial landscape. Second, as I trace those strategies into the realm of archaeological work, it is my goal to highlight how practices of heritage management and colonial rule in Israel/Palestine are co-constitutive. In this context, I also consider how the occupation, confiscation, and demolition of archaeological sites take place before the background of a modernist discourse that references a universal or global heritage.
Résumé
Les chercheurs qui travaillent sur les problèmes de politique du patrimoine culturel ont maintes fois affirmé que les sites archéologiques situés en Israël/Palestine servent de fondement à la création d’un récit d’état-nation qui efface les autres aspects de l’histoire. Dans le prolongement de ce point de vue, mon article explore un ensemble de stratégies spacio-politiques que les colons israéliens utilisent pour graver un espace national dans un paysage colonial plus vaste. De plus, en suivant la trace de ces stratégies dans le domaine du travail archéologique, mon objectif est de mettre en évidence la co-constitution des pratiques de gestion du patrimoine et de la loi coloniale en Israël/Palestine. Dans ce contexte, j’étudie aussi comment l’occupation, la confiscation et la démolition des sites archéologiques se produisent sur fond de discours moderniste faisant référence à un patrimoine universel ou mondial
Resumen
Los eruditos que trabajan sobre cuestiones de políticas del patrimonio cultural han argumentado repetidamente que los emplazamientos arqueológicos en Israel/Palestina sirven de base para la creación de una narrativa de nación-estado que borra otras historias. Ampliando esta visión, mi documento explora en primer lugar un conjunto de estrategias espacio-políticas que los colonos israelíes utilizan para extraer un espacio nacional dentro de un paisaje colonial más amplio. En segundo lugar, a medida que sigo el rastro de dichas estrategias en el ámbito del trabajo arqueológico, mi meta es destacar cómo las prácticas de la gestión del patrimonio y el dominio colonial en Israel/Palestina son co-constitutivas. En este contexto, considero también cómo la ocupación, la confiscación y la demolición de emplazamientos arqueológicos se produce ante el telón de fondo de un discurso modernista que hace referencia a un patrimonio universal y global.
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Acknowledgments
This paper is a considerably extended version of a presentation delivered at the conference “Global Heritage—Worlds Apart” held at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin in summer 2012. I thank the organizers of the conference, Stefan Altekamp, Cornelia Kleinitz, and Claudia Näser, for encouraging me to continue my engagement with the complicated politics of doing archaeology in the Middle East. I also thank Stefan Altekamp for sending helpful comments during the process of revising my paper. I cannot appreciate enough that Adi Keinan and Adam Friedman have agreed, without hesitation, to read earlier drafts of this paper at particularly busy moments in their own lives. Both have provided nuanced and informed insights to my reading of the political situation in Israel/Palestine.
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Starzmann, M.T. Occupying the Past: Colonial Rule and Archaeological Practice in Israel/Palestine. Arch 9, 546–571 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11759-013-9246-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11759-013-9246-z