VRS Research Spotlight: Salam Al Kuntar

This spring, I was selected as a 2015 National Geographic Emerging Explorer for my work protecting Syria’s cultural heritage. The conflict in Syria has led to extensive damage to the country’s famed cultural heritage. While such a situation often seems hopeless, I have been involved in implementing successful community-based emergency preservation in areas held by the Syrian Opposition. I have been working with a dedicated group of heritage professionals and volunteers inside Syria, as part of the Safeguarding the Heritage of Syria and Iraq Project (SHOSI), hosted by the Penn Museum Cultural Heritage Center.

The project has implemented specific interventions, such as emergency protection for museum collections, preservation for most-at-risk structures at important sites, and professional training for leading in-country teams. Protecting heritage increases the capability for people to cope with everyday difficulties and enhances their ties and connections to the land and places of cultural significance. The conflict in Syria is now taking on a sectarian character, as we have seen the targeting and destruction of cultural, historical, and religious structures associated with a particular ethnic or religious community. Efforts taken now to preserve shared heritage will help significantly in post-conflict reconstruction, reconciliation, and stabilization.

Part of my research at ISAW has been working on the role of archaeology in the politics of identity, through both my archaeological investigation of the past and the production of cultural heritage in the present. I focus on the role of scholarly research in positively influencing people’s understanding of their heritage and identity beyond the common historic fixation and politically charged narratives. My research bridges the gap between ancient migration and deportation, questions of identities, and modern nations and political borders in the Middle East today. 

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Read Salam's interview with National Geographic here as well as her bio on the ISAW People page.