International Journal of Islamic Architecture - Volume 9, Issue 2, 2020

This article discusses the creation of architectural and archaeological archives in newly independent Egypt and Sudan during the International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia, organized by UNESCO (The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization). This initiative took place in the contiguous border regions of Egyptian and Sudanese Nubia from 1960 until 1980 in response to the building of the Aswan High Dam. Contingency in these archives demonstrates the necessity of acknowledging the (post-) colonial social and historical conditions in which they were produced. UNESCO's campaign sought to record ancient remains that would be submerged by the High Dam's floodwaters. During the campaign, UNESCO set up 'documentation centres' that helped codify what knowledge about Nubian architecture/archaeology might be archive-worthy, producing index cards dedicated to this purpose in Egypt (concentrating on monuments) and Sudan (centring on archaeological sites). This practice – echoed by other organizations involved in the work – was often purposefully forgetful of contemporary Nubia, whose material traces were also soon to be flooded. Nevertheless, such practices rendered visible other unauthorised histories of Nubia that subverted archival knowledge production: histories of local involvement with the campaign and now-submerged Nubian settlements. This article therefore argues that it is not only possible, but also ethically imperative, to repurpose the Nubian campaign's archives towards the acknowledgement of erased Nubian histories.

As original primary sources remain central to history writing, researchers strive to find new, unpublished documents. Each archival discovery is perceived to increase the importance and contribution of the research work, but like any other discovery, it is assumed to happen only once. Should the document be encountered by the researcher a second time, elsewhere, in a different archive or collection, the encounter often does not acquire the same significance, and the document might be bypassed easily. Visual documents in particular, which at times have been perceived as too unreliable while in other cases treated as authoritative testimonies, present additional challenges of analysis when found in multiple contexts. However, what if re-encountering the same material in different archives is key to unfolding its meanings and histories? What if such archival re-encounters deserve to be sought after rather than avoided? These questions are especially worthy of exploration when the research concerns sites and histories of conflict, in which archival material is often destroyed, withheld, or heavily politicized. In light of research on photographs of the 1922 Smyrna Fire in Greek, Turkish, and American archives, this paper explores the potential of archival re-encounters to expand and enrich historiographical analysis.

Conducting research on Israel's settlement project has become increasingly difficult throughout the past decade due to restrictions on public access to both the field and archives, including those of contemporary planning data. Meanwhile, scholars and activists have continued to document the spatial implications of settlements by diversifying their methods, including using architecture as forensic evidence of political aggression. In response, those who regulate access to archives and the field have focused on obfuscating information that could corroborate the illegality of settlements. This has led to a cyclical process in which the exposure of information and data has prompted the creation of further barriers to the field. Deep gaps in formal, authoritative data require methodological creativity and flexibility, such as reading the built environment itself as a primary source. Borrowing from Roland Barthes, this article points to the transgressive potential of architecture as a punctum, a point that opens research to multiple interpretations and helps researchers circumvent restrictions imposed by those regulating access to primary material. In this case study, we show how limited access to archival data has led researchers to study pre-approved settlement planning documents and settler-produced documentary clips, interweaving field and archive in meaningful ways. We argue that, by taking such an approach, researchers may transcend not only issues of access, but also traditional boundaries of disciplines.

Heritage-making is a process of valorization carried out using complex exchanges, contestations, and negotiations between various actors. State actors attempt, through various strategies, to employ heritage-making in order to construct a unified heritage discourse and avoid multivocality. One of these strategies is the control of state archives, an approach that seeks to dictate what is accessible and inaccessible and thus to dominate conceptualizations of heritage. This paper discusses how research in state archives sheds light on heritage-making in Istanbul's historic peninsula and how the state's tendency to restrain access reflects the contested nature of Istanbul's heritage. The restriction or denial of archival access becomes a significant component of heritage-making in Turkey, shaped not only by the past but also by the present. Therefore, archives and the practice of archival research become both a tool for the researcher and at the same time a subject worthy of research in and of itself. This paper argues that the attitudes of state institutions and the discourses they adopt in restraining access to archives are in fact objects of enquiry in the understanding of the precise boundaries of their scope of authority and, as such, can provide further insight into the fragmented nature of the state and state archives.

Herkes için Mimarlık ('Architecture for All', HiM) is a group of architects, urban planners, designers, and sociologists who conduct participatory renovation projects. They were involved in the Occupy Gezi Park movement by questioning top-down urban politics in Istanbul, developing a series of online and on-site events including the Gezi Festivals, interview videos, timelines, zines, and exhibitions. Working from these case studies, this article examines the ways HiM archived the occupied milieu as a means of resistance: How do the materials that HiM documented during the Occupy Gezi Park movement contribute to knowledge production through a non-authoritarian and a non-linear history writing? I argue that temporality plays a crucial role in this process, as it is impossible to predetermine the duration of a protest movement and the course of events complicates decision-making regarding what to include or exclude in the archive. Through in-depth interviews and archival research that focus on HiM's public events and design works, this article examines the group's curatorial and documentation practices with respect to questions of authenticity, authorship, accessibility, and security.