ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with a critical examination of the current stakes of the heritage agenda in the eastern Mediterranean and ends with a call to action and a speculative future. Using the Parthenon in Athens and Ayasofya in Istanbul as case studies, the author argues that the classical history of monuments has been privileged whilst the Islamic history has often been erased. The heritage agenda, directed by UNESCO, is characterised as civilisational, drawing its terminology from Françoise Vergès’ critique of European feminism. To counteract this agenda, the author contends that we should embrace the cultural co-presences and simultaneous histories of sites to form a decolonial, multiple approach to heritage.
