Description
Contemporary scholarship examining the role of heritage in peace and conflict recognises the ambivalence of heritage, which can act as both a driver of conflict and resource for building peace. This can be particularly acute in the case of contested or war-damaged heritage. We propose that integrating elements of a conflict transformational approach to the ways we approach contested and conflict-affected heritage could provide the basis for reimagining this heritage as a space of agonistic engagement and contestation between equals, and for living together differently. This argument exploits the dialogic turn in its key concepts (heritage and conflict) and seeks to exploit the synergies between the two. A conflict transformational approach avoids the temptation to use heritage to attempt to build a falsely unifying narrative of the past, instead making room for dissensus and making problematic power asymmetries visible. The paper sets out the theoretical basis for this approach, drawing on research at a contested heritage site in the occupied Palestinian territory. It then goes on to discuss how this might be implemented in practice by heritage professionals and community members seeking to maximise the conflict transformational potential of heritage even in the midst of conflict.
