Reformulating Cultural Heritage Management Strategies in the Post-Soviet Caucasus region.

Summary

The inheritance of Soviet-molded approaches to cultural heritage has seen slow changes in the last two decades in ex-Soviet South Caucasian countries. This is not surprising: if the same specialists continue to run and manage heritage change is expected to be slow; new generations are just starting to work in state agencies. The exposure of the systems to new approaches and its practical application is a difficult task. To compound the problems, the heritage of Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia is very mixed. These three countries, of distinct religious majorities, have a mix of populations of the three groups with their consequent material and immaterial heritage. These countries are in the stage of emphasizing the heritage of the majority, hence overlooking the heritage of minorities even when the latter populations are still thriving. This complex population & heritage mix is a consequence of Soviet population movements. These will continue to mark the diversity of these countries, as populations are, for the time being staying put. In this paper I will describe two cases in the realm of heritage management: a long-term documentation project in Azerbaijan and a case for seeking the private management of an archaeological site in Georgia.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 14299