Re-branding the Levant: contested heritage and colonial modernities in Amman and Damascus

Abstract

Western understandings of ‘heritage’ have long-shaped efforts to promote historical conservation and forms of cultural tourism in the Middle East and North Africa. In recent years, however, new localised ‘rediscovereries’ of urban heritage and a restorative building boom have emerged across many formerly colonised regions and the cities of the Eastern Mediterranean. These efforts are now engaging with, and beginning to compete against, Western imaginations of non-Western history and culture. This article examines projects of urban restoration in two very different cities: Damascus – often presented as the oldest continually inhabited city in the world – and Amman – a recently settled urban space with no significant history at all. While noting the dominance of interpretations of heritage shaped by Western (post)colonial discourses, the article argues that such readings cannot adequately explain how understandings of heritage develop when more localised views come into play. Although equally imbued with notions of (colonial) nostalgia and romance, these new local efforts use a different positionality to articulate and express their understanding and appreciation of the (more recent) past.

Keywords:

• heritage tourism
• Middle East
• Levant
• colonial nostalgia
• urban heritage