Thirteenth Global Studies Conference

Abstract

Cultural heritage has been established as a key element in shaping identity and community. Alongside the human suffering and mass displacement arising from the conflicts in Iraq and Syria, there has been increased attention on heritage as a victim of war. While scholarship has predominantly focused on the impacts of conflict on built heritage, in this paper I unravel the relationship between ‘traditional’ artisanal crafts and processes of change and globalization. Through ethnographic fieldwork and oral histories produced in collaboration with Damascene artisans who have been displaced to Amman, I highlight the impacts of conflict and migration on an overlooked element of heritage and Syrian identity. Consequently, I illustrate how reconfigurations of space due to conflict have led to reconfigurations of craft. This is not a unique phenomenon, as artisanal practices are shown to be constantly evolving, but conflict can lead to increased adaptation in response to a rapidly altered environment. By suggesting an approach that emphasises the reconfiguration of heritage rather than its destruction, I accentuate the resilience of people and processes of un and re-making. So that while identities may be reshaped through the physical destruction of heritage, there is hope that they will re-emerge in new, and familiar, ways.