MENA Cultural Heritage Experts Learn About ARCH
Meridian International Center invites State Department Program to learn about ARCH
By: Sophia Schultz, ARCH International
Last year we moved into a larger shared office with a beautiful view across the Potomac river onto Washington DC’s “skyline” – with the Monument, the Capitol, the Jefferson Memorial, and the U.S. Institute of Peace’s roof, with its dove shaped curves, all nicely visible.
We are lucky – our office space is donated to us. This is wonderful because it means your extremely valuable contributions do not go into paying the high rents in this area. If you follow us on instagram or facebook you have probably seen pictures of us holding meetings in our conference room (hint: one wall is painted in purple). Our shared, spacious conference room came in handy a few days ago when, for the first time, since I work for ARCH, we hosted a group of 24 people. I must admit that I was quite excited about welcoming the professionals and introducing them to how we work and what we work on.
The 24 professionals included representatives from Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Sudan, Tunisia, and the United Arab Emirates, occupying positions within museum and heritage management, in their ministries of culture and antiquities authorities, and in intelligence and legal professions.
Our organization’s Board member Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, who was U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, Iraq and the U.N., addressed the group first. He was greeted with a lot of excitement and courtesy (a brief intermission of a musical chair like performance ensued, with people jumping off their chairs or pointing to the seats they thought best for the ambassador.) He spoke about the history of ARCH (as many of you know, we started as the Bamiyan Project) and emphasized how MENA’s heritage forms part of the region’s collective feeling of belonging and identity, while at the same time forming part of the world’s heritage.
He also ruminated about how people in the U.S. perhaps because or despite the fact that their history isn’t millennia old somehow managed to create a national narrative that is inclusive, one only has to think of concepts like “melting pot”, or the “American dream” (you can make it if you work hard), and other such tropes that at least in theory open up society to each and every one. Heritage, and the narratives surrounding it, in the Middle East is one factor that will play a significant role in future reconciliation processes. The ambassador was asked if he engaged in work concerning cultural heritage matters while he was in his official positions in Afghanistan and Iraq. He explained that in his role security concerns usually were on top of the agenda, but that the U.S. was highly aware in its policies of the fact that cultural heritage plays an important role in the fabric of a society and is important for post-conflict reconstruction. A pride in one’s past, and mutual acceptance, leads to a clearer vision for the future.
Our second speaker was ARCH’s Board member Yama Jewayni. I told him about the meeting last-minute and he managed to move some other commitments around to be able to join. We decided on the spot that he could say a few words, too. Given the spontaneity of his remarks, I was surprised about how deeply inspiring his words were to me personally. When he ended I remember thinking, for a fraction of a second, wow I would love to work for a cause like this, only to realize I am!
Yama started off by telling us that on the 4th of July weekend, he and his family went on a trip to Harper’s Ferry. “Harper’s Ferry is where the civil war began, you can still see bullet holes in the walls.” He spoke about how in the U.S. “brothers were fighting brothers”; that this forms part of U.S. history. Since then, however, the prevalent narrative of the nation has changed and has become much more inclusive. This tied back to what Ambassador Khalilzad was saying earlier, that countries going through war and conflict can manage to feel unified again after a process of reconciliation, peace, and economic development. Yama drew us back in and back to Harper’s Ferry when he said that while he was standing there with his three-year-old son, he realized how places, the context of where you are in life (in his case he visited for the first time in the role of a father), influence how you feel about certain things and how you convey them to younger generations. These historic places are important reminders of the good and the bad in us. You realize how times have changed. “Today, a major highway leads directly from Harper’s Ferry to the nation’s capitol”, he paused, and thanked everyone for listening.
Next up, it was my turn. A gentleman got up and offered me his seat. At first I declined but as soon as I sat down I actually felt much more as part of the group than the “host”. I was ready to go. I welcomed everyone, also on behalf of ARCH’s president Cheryl Benard who was traveling at the time. What makes us unique is that we get so much done even though most of our team members work as volunteers (including our president!). They are very dedicated. The projects we work on are usually already projects-in-the-making before we even get to them. Locals are already doing everything exactly right, we just jump on the boat and begin paddling with them. I didn’t say exactly that but something similar. We put boots on the ground but as scholars, lawyers. We knock on politician’s doors after they told us they will take care of this or that, but actions speak louder than words, right? So we need to follow-up. We are not afraid to think big: Filing legal complaints with the E.U., opposing the Greek ship industry, or the World Bank’s involvement in Mes Aynak, Afghanistan. We think outside of the box, with our vision to build a global network of Rumi Gardens for example!
I’m telling you, it’s exciting work, so talking about it is a lot of fun, too. One last point I emphasized before I described the specific strategies and creative ideas we implement as a team regarding the different initiatives we are passionate about (on our website, each project’s page gives a good in-detail breakdown), was that we have a truly inclusive definition of culture. We’re trying to approach the realm of history, heritage, culture from a more personal, unconventional perspective, deeply “grassroots” and hands-on as opposed to highly institutionalized and standardized. We seek a compromise first, involving as many stakeholders as possible, but if that does not seem to lead to the results we wish for, we move on to more activist efforts quickly.
One question from the audience was about our relationship with UNESCO. The answer is that it depends. So for example concerning the Bamiyan Buddhas we advocate for a different outcome. Yes, we attend UNESCO conferences on the topic and appreciate a fruitful exchange, but we stand with the people who want them rebuilt. When it comes to Pavlopetri in Greece we cooperate on a much closer level; just recently the director of UNESCO’s World Heritage Center spoke at our annual Pavlopetri Watch Day. The last question before we wrapped up was about our global “Local Leaders” as we call them and the volunteers we work with as part of our “Expert Network.” I explained that it’s easy – if you genuinely care about a certain issue, within our organization, you will work on that specific issue.
I wish there was more time for a more extensive Q&A as I was interested to hear more feedback and more case studies from the participants. With some of them we will certainly continue to stay in touch, and who knows, maybe we’ll discover the next underdog soon: a group trying to protect their heritage, committed to the cause, interested in a collaboration with ARCH.