February 29 - March 1, 2008

Organizers
Zeynep Celik, New Jersey Institute of Technology
Diane Favro, University of California, Los Angeles

Recent debates on museums, archaeology, and ownership of cultural heritage underscore the ongoing political and historic significance of the inquiry. This interdisciplinary project will address the problem by filling an important gap in the historiography of archaeology and cultural history in the late-nineteenth/early-twentieth century centuries. It will concentrate on the implications of Ottoman archaeological research between 1873 and 1923, a period corresponding to dramatic transformations as the Empire attempted to modernize its identity and fundamental institutions. Among the issues to be explored are: the crucial role played by the historic heritage of the land in the definition of a modern, multi-ethnic empire; the Ottoman confrontations with European archaeological intrusion (resulting in early laws protecting cultural patrimony); the methods and techniques of scientific research, documentation, and classification employed as political tools; the presentation of data and artifacts as components of reframed modern imperial policies; and European and American responses to Ottoman endeavors. We have assembled prominent international scholars from different disciplines who have recently begun to explore the archaeological work carried out by the Ottomans. At a two-day symposium each participant will present a paper examining an aspect of the broader theme and contribute to group discussions. The resulting essays, collected in a book, will counterbalance the existing scholarship on the Ottoman Empire which relies almost exclusively on documentation emanating from European and American sources. We anticipate that this shift of focus will enrich and change much about the current thinking on who owns the past.