ANTH 301

ANTH 301: Recovering the Past: Problems of Cultural Heritage in the Middle East. There are movements in all Middle Eastern countries to support or in some cases to discourage efforts to uncover their pasts or to preserve their cultural and linguistic legacies. These may include the archaeological unearthing of important historical sites, the preservation of World Heritage cities, the restoration of natural environments like the Iraqi marshes, or the movement to preserve Berber and Kurdish languages and cultures. This course will explore the forces that threaten cultural heritage or that encourage its preservation (and why). How are efforts of cultural survival and preservation affected by political, economic and other factors?