Wednesday, February 24, at 7 p.m. Cub Auditorium presented by The School of Politics, Philosophy and Public Affairs
Joris D. Kila will present his original research into an ISIS (Daesh)-developed business model for cultural appropriation, and other evidence he has collected of lost, stolen, and damaged material culture in Syria, Mali, Egypt, Libya, and Iraq. His assessment of this contemporary crisis in cultural heritage includes analysis of iconoclasm, traumascapes, military input, and the use of cultural property to finance conflict. He assesses the place of cultural property protection in global security and examines competing and contradictory stakeholder interests.
Where legal, identity, and memory issues intersect with counter-insurgency, transnational organized crime, illicit traffic, and finance flows, Dr. Kila asks: why are national and international policies and institutions unable to safeguard heritage and prevent illegal trade? Based on his experience at the frontline of this critical yet largely neglected struggle, Dr. Kila proposes solutions to prevent destruction—in the short span of one generation—of a shared heritage that has been preserved and passed down to us over thousands of years.
