This thesis provides a philosophical discussion of the implementation of virtual and augmented reality in the cultural heritage sector. In particular, the paper critically investigates the ways in...Show moreThis thesis provides a philosophical discussion of the implementation of virtual and augmented reality in the cultural heritage sector. In particular, the paper critically investigates the ways in which digital technologies attempt to simulate and approximate materiality.Show less
The attacks of the Islamic State to cultural heritage in Syria and Iraq have been described by UNESCO and other international organizations as a strategy of "cultural cleansing". However, the...Show moreThe attacks of the Islamic State to cultural heritage in Syria and Iraq have been described by UNESCO and other international organizations as a strategy of "cultural cleansing". However, the concept was rejected multiple times in the framework of international law, and now amounts to a groundless menace, incapable of generating consequences for the perpetrators. This thesis uses critical concept analysis to understand why international organizations keep using the concept "cultural cleansing" despite its recurrent exclusion from international law, and what consequences this concept encompasses.Show less
The main theme of the research consists in finding how multicultural identities of diasporic return migrants are actualized and expressed. Acknowledging the discursive nature of heritage, we can...Show moreThe main theme of the research consists in finding how multicultural identities of diasporic return migrants are actualized and expressed. Acknowledging the discursive nature of heritage, we can understand story-telling as a means to define one’s cultural identity. However, as language is tied to culture, we might consider a more universal form of expression that transcends cultural categorization to cease the multi-faceted and fluid identity of returnees. The following research attempts to establish art and visual representation as individual conscious or unconscious means of expression of cultural identity. This was illustrated on the hand of a case-study focused on a specific group of diasporic return migrants in Vietnam: the French Vietnamese returnee artists of Saigon . It was based on the analysis of the works of four French Vietnamese artists, locally defined as French “Viet Kieu” (“Overseas Vietnamese” in English): Sandrine Llouquet, Bao Vuong, Mai-Loan Tu and Florian Nguyen. In the first instance, the research process drew a contextual framework of Vietnamese society in parallel with the development of the Saigonese contemporary art scene to understand the experiences of the artists reported in their biographies in order to underline their relationship to Vietnamese heritage. In the second instance, ethnographic methods combined with their interpretive biographies informed an iconological study of their artistic production that identified potential expressions of their Vietnamese heritage in their work. Finally, the two approaches were combined in a synthetic exercise that helped drawing conclusions on the transmission of Vietnamese heritage and the general definition of the artists’ cultural heritage and identity.Show less
This MA Thesis explores the small Syriac Orthodox community of Istanbul. The micro study includes portraits of three Syriac Orthodox families who moved away from Mardin. They give insight into the...Show moreThis MA Thesis explores the small Syriac Orthodox community of Istanbul. The micro study includes portraits of three Syriac Orthodox families who moved away from Mardin. They give insight into the way the community members stay connected, the study searches how the social identity of the Syriac Orthodox community in Istanbul is being experienced. It considers how members see themselves and others from within their community, and how they see ‘the outsiders.’ Qualifications are given based on religious and cultural customs and on collective memory. The differences between generations are kept in mind and reveal why the identification process is changing throughout time.Show less
