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Historic Preservation in the Middle East : Mapping the RegionThe Society of Architectural Historians 69th Annual International ConferencePasadena/Los Angeles, California, April 6-10, 2016The history of architectural conservation and restoration in the Middle East remains unmapped and unwritten. Entangled with the colonial project, historic preservation was conscribed by often short-lived Middle Eastern nationalisms to subsequently flourish under the commercial aegis of global tourist industry. It was burdened with orientalist roots and consequent self-orientalization, just as it functioned as an instrument of de-colonization and authentic recovery of suppressed identity. Yet, despite all the differences, most Middle Eastern countries shared the perception of architectural heritage as a leverage of modernization with a broad range of potentials from perpetuating current ideological agenda to capitalizing on the exoticized past.This panel aims at bringing together scholars of historic preservation in the Middle East with a particular focus on theories and methodological approaches to architectural restoration and conservation developed in the region since the 19th century. We equally encourage presentations that trace the influence of national and colonial ideologies on the restoration of specific monuments and the reconstruction of archeological sites both – and often simultaneously – for the benefit of state propaganda and international tourism. We are particularly interested in the papers that explore the influence of local architectural historiographies on the specific restoration and conservation techniques and the practices of selected demolition of historic fabric. The panel is also open to the presentations that address the questions of urban reconstruction and strategic planning in relation to historic preservation.We particularly encourage applications from scholars residing, teaching, and doing research in the Middle East or directly involved in the restoration of its monuments. The preference will be given to papers based on original archival research or the study of local architectural and historic preservation periodicals.Session Chairs: Leïla el-Wakil, University of Geneva, Leila.El-Wakil@unige.ch; Igor Demchenko, Massachusetts Institute of Technology,igord@mit.edu.Please submit abstracts (no more than 300 words) via the online submission portal by June 9, 2015.For further details, see the SAH 2016 call for papers.