tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-173339082024-03-13T04:06:06.915+00:00Mitrovicë/Mitrovica: cultural heritage and communityarchaeoblog on human rights archaeology - community cultural heritage in Mitrovicë/Mitrovicasamarkeologhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105252320758729314noreply@blogger.comBlogger57125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17333908.post-69401741469251064632011-08-27T11:05:00.000+01:002011-08-27T11:14:12.481+01:00I decided to officially archive this blog on the day my DPhil was confirmed. But I have waited for the electronic publication of my thesis, <a href="http://conflictantiquities.wordpress.com/2011/08/27/cultural-heritage-work-in-cyprus-dphil-thesis-electronic-publication/">Interrogating Archaeological Ethics in Conflict Zones: Cultural Heritage Work in Cyprus</a>, to announce the archiving. From now on, I will blog at <a href="http://conflictantiquities.wordpress.com/">Conflict Antiquities</a>.<br />
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On Conflict Antiquities, I will concentrate on illicit antiquities trading, organised crime and political violence in Cyprus, Greece and Turkey. As I explain in an <a href="http://conflictantiquities.wordpress.com/2011/08/24/conflict-antiquities-introduction/">introduction to Conflict Antiquities</a>,<br />
<blockquote>I want to study the history of the trade in conflict antiquities; and to explore the relationship between the trade in conflict antiquities and the funding of conflict and violence.</blockquote>samarkeologhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105252320758729314noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17333908.post-1134120401225441482005-12-09T09:26:00.000+00:002007-01-14T14:49:33.129+00:00<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/216/5433/640/40600037.0.jpg"><img style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 2px;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/216/5433/320/40600037.0.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />South Mitrovice building 25: "Motel Mitrovica". Having walked all around the centre, having walked past "[the] hotel" several times, thinking it might be the place I was looking for, but deciding it couldn't be and having been given directions several times, eventually I returned to the hotel and it was indeed Motel Mitrovica.<br /><br />[Corrected on the 14th of January 2007.]<br /><br />I had thought that it might've been taken down because it was the Serbian spelling, as in Peje, extremists had smashed the sign for the Hotel <a href="http://peje-community-cultural-heritage.blogspot.com/2005/10/peje-town-centre-8-hotel-metohija.html">Metohija</a> (Hotel of the Land of the Monasteries) and in <a href="http://decan-community-cultural-heritage.blogspot.com/2005/10/decan-political-art-1-this-is-sign-at.html" target="_blank">Decan</a>, they had spray-painted out the Serbian spelling on the sign as you enter the town, because they deemed them unacceptable.<br /><br />Thankfully, however, Anonymous has corrected me that this is:<blockquote>"Not true, Mitrovice is the name in Albanian but it can also be called Mitrovica. So the spelling is correct. When asked which city are [y]ou from, you can not say I'm from Mitrovicë, so we say I'm from Mitrovica."</blockquote>So, I don't know why it was there, but there's no reason to assume it was related to the other cases that I initially interpreted it in light of.samarkeologhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105252320758729314noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17333908.post-1134119681928479672005-12-09T09:14:00.000+00:002005-12-09T09:14:41.933+00:00<a href='http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/216/5433/640/40600036.0.jpg'><img border='0' style='border:1px solid #000000; margin:2px' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/216/5433/320/40600036.0.jpg'></a><br />South Mitrovice's other church 2: lastly, my tour guides brought me to the Catholic Holy Cross Church, which I had also visited myself, having seen the crucifix over some other buildings and worked my way through the winding streets until, finally, I arrived.samarkeologhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105252320758729314noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17333908.post-1134118373745699552005-12-09T08:52:00.000+00:002005-12-09T09:22:35.276+00:00<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/216/5433/640/40600035.0.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/216/5433/320/40600035.0.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />South Mitrovice building 24: the arch on the hillside looming over Mitrovice/Mitrovica is a Communist monument, erected under Marshal Josip Broz Tito, which I thought was a monument to victory in the Second World War, but which some others have said was a monument to miners and <a href="http://livefromkosovo.blogspot.com/2005/07/monument-to-mining-hill-north-of.html">mining</a> after the war. Initially, I'd thought it could be a water tower or reservoir, but luckily the Albanian youths I met corrected me.samarkeologhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105252320758729314noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17333908.post-1134118241086656662005-12-09T08:50:00.000+00:002005-12-09T08:50:41.090+00:00<a href='http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/216/5433/640/40600034.0.jpg'><img border='0' style='border:1px solid #000000; margin:2px' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/216/5433/320/40600034.0.jpg'></a><br />South Mitrovice buildings 23: this is the bridge for the disused railway line through Mitrovice/Mitrovica.samarkeologhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105252320758729314noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17333908.post-1134118170561324932005-12-09T08:49:00.000+00:002005-12-09T08:49:30.566+00:00<a href='http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/216/5433/640/40600033.0.jpg'><img border='0' style='border:1px solid #000000; margin:2px' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/216/5433/320/40600033.0.jpg'></a><br />South Mitrovice building 22: the Albanian youths showing me the sights/sites of south Mitrovice walked me along the disused railway line, showing me this. I can't remember, however, what this was, though I think it may have been a water tower; I don't believe it was a Communist monument, as I don't think the architectural design would have been appropriate.samarkeologhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105252320758729314noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17333908.post-1134117842932684492005-12-09T08:44:00.000+00:002005-12-09T08:44:02.936+00:00<a href='http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/216/5433/640/40600032.0.jpg'><img border='0' style='border:1px solid #000000; margin:2px' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/216/5433/320/40600032.0.jpg'></a><br />South Mitrovice's old church 3; this was the bishop's residence for the Serbian Orthodox Church of St. Sava, before both were attacked and burned out.samarkeologhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105252320758729314noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17333908.post-1134117736074302722005-12-09T08:42:00.000+00:002005-12-09T08:42:16.080+00:00<a href='http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/216/5433/640/40600031.0.jpg'><img border='0' style='border:1px solid #000000; margin:2px' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/216/5433/320/40600031.0.jpg'></a><br />South Mitrovice's old church 2: my guides also brought me back to this, the burned-out Serbian Orthodox Church of St. Sava.samarkeologhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105252320758729314noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17333908.post-1134117571327095622005-12-09T08:39:00.000+00:002005-12-09T08:39:31.333+00:00<a href='http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/216/5433/640/40600030.0.jpg'><img border='0' style='border:1px solid #000000; margin:2px' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/216/5433/320/40600030.0.jpg'></a><br />South Mitrovice building 21; coincidentally, the Albanian youths giving me a tour of south Mitrovice brought me back to the first building that I had seen and considered worth photographing (South Mitrovice building 1). If I remember rightly, they said that this house was over a century old.samarkeologhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105252320758729314noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17333908.post-1134115530334871462005-12-09T08:05:00.000+00:002005-12-09T08:34:54.840+00:00<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/216/5433/640/40600029.0.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/216/5433/320/40600029.0.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Mitrovice/Mitrovica's new bridge: French KFOR <a href="http://livefromkosovo.blogspot.com/2005/07/there-is-very-little-traffic-between.html" target="_blank">built</a> a new bridge to represent reconciliation between the communities, though given how deeply divided the communities still are, it could be said equally to represent just that division, to emphasise the distance and the fragility of the connections between them.<br /><br />Notwithstanding this generosity, some individual French KFOR soldiers' behaviour has been at least questionable, with some intimation of <a href="http://hrw.org/reports/2004/kosovo0704/7.htm" target="_blank">acts</a> of omission or commission that would constitute complicity in human rights abuses.<br /><br />When I told the Albanian youths giving me a tour of south Mitrovice that I had not been able to take a photograph of the bridge from the road (as it might provide intelligence to terrorists), they brought me into a school playground, from which I could take a photograph of the bridge without giving any information that might undermine security (and without being stopped by a soldier).samarkeologhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105252320758729314noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17333908.post-1134115443921879002005-12-09T08:04:00.000+00:002005-12-09T08:04:03.926+00:00<a href='http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/216/5433/640/40600028.0.jpg'><img border='0' style='border:1px solid #000000; margin:2px' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/216/5433/320/40600028.0.jpg'></a><br />South Mitrovice buildings 19: here, as elsewhere, older buildings conserved sufficiently to function, but not restored, are dwarfed by newer constructions; the feel of the place is lost when every aspect of its character is intruded in by these faceless structures.samarkeologhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105252320758729314noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17333908.post-1134114986703123432005-12-09T07:56:00.000+00:002005-12-09T07:57:54.166+00:00<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/216/5433/640/40600027.0.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/216/5433/320/40600027.0.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />South Mitrovice building 18: this is a memorial to "Mehe Uka, 1962-1996"; although he's been cast pulling a pistol, it's unclear who he was or in which circumstances he died. A UCK/KLA unit has been named in honour of <a href="http://www.nwc.navy.mil/balkans/bc2m22p4.htm">Uka</a>.samarkeologhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105252320758729314noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17333908.post-1134114568435710612005-12-09T07:49:00.000+00:002008-02-10T05:13:29.908+00:00<a href='http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/216/5433/640/40600026.0.jpg'><img border='0' style='border:1px solid #000000; margin:2px' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/216/5433/320/40600026.0.jpg'></a><br />South Mitrovice buildings 17: this abandoned industrial complex appears to be a coal mine, though I'm not certain; the waste in the foreground seems to have been dumped on a similarly large scale, though smaller scale dumping within residential and other public places is common throughout Kosova/Kosovo.<br /><br />[Updated on the 10th of February 2008.]<br /><br />Kosova/Kosovo's economic situation is still dire. The BBC's Mark Mardell recently met Trepqa/Trepça mine manager Nazmi Mikullovci, who observed:<blockquote>"If I get rid of these old workers, they would get 40 euros a month. That's pretty close to a death sentence. We have <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/markmardell/2008/01/mining_kosovos_future.html" target="_blank">no social insurance, no medical insurance</a>.<br /><br />So tell me what I should do about our rather elderly workers. They are willing to work, they want to work but they are very limited in what they can actually do. It's another set of handcuffs."</blockquote>samarkeologhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105252320758729314noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17333908.post-1134114211141658902005-12-09T07:43:00.000+00:002005-12-09T07:43:31.146+00:00<a href='http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/216/5433/640/40600025.0.jpg'><img border='0' style='border:1px solid #000000; margin:2px' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/216/5433/320/40600025.0.jpg'></a><br />South Mitrovice's new mosque 3: these are the dome and minaret. Some young children started talking to me as I walked around and, when our conversation quickly faltered, they fetched some young adult friends who spoke English. For the next hour or two, these young adults gave me a tour of south Mitrovice, showing me those places they thought an archaeologist or architect would find interesting; the first sight/site on this tour was the new mosque.samarkeologhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105252320758729314noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17333908.post-1134113704887218842005-12-09T07:35:00.000+00:002005-12-09T07:35:04.893+00:00<a href='http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/216/5433/640/40600024.0.jpg'><img border='0' style='border:1px solid #000000; margin:2px' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/216/5433/320/40600024.0.jpg'></a><br />South Mitrovice building 16: natural and social development are encroaching on the ruins of this home, destroyed during the war.samarkeologhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105252320758729314noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17333908.post-1134113439064774052005-12-09T07:30:00.000+00:002005-12-09T07:30:39.070+00:00<a href='http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/216/5433/640/40600023.0.jpg'><img border='0' style='border:1px solid #000000; margin:2px' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/216/5433/320/40600023.0.jpg'></a><br />South Mitrovice buildings 15: these houses show the wide range of ages and styles that are found in every place, as well as the development, which is continuing apace.samarkeologhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105252320758729314noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17333908.post-1134113266150025522005-12-09T07:27:00.000+00:002005-12-09T07:27:46.156+00:00<a href='http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/216/5433/640/40600022.0.jpg'><img border='0' style='border:1px solid #000000; margin:2px' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/216/5433/320/40600022.0.jpg'></a><br />South Mitrovice buildings 14: in the foreground is the market; in the background, but still drawing the eye, is a mosque, though I do not know whether it is the Mosque of Zallit ("Xhamia e Zallit"), Mosque of Hajji Veselit ("Xhamia e Haxhi Veselit") or Mosque of Bajrit (Xhamia e Bajrit"). I do know it's not Elbrit Mosque (Xhamia Elbrit), as that was destroyed.samarkeologhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105252320758729314noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17333908.post-1134112221496490242005-12-09T07:10:00.000+00:002006-11-22T10:43:39.096+00:00<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/216/5433/640/40600021.1.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/216/5433/320/40600021.1.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />South Mitrovice building 13: playfully appropriating the global brand of McDonald's, though simultaneously converting it into the Albanian community's icon, the two-headed eagle, this is the "MeDonald's Qebaptore [MeDonald's Kebabery]".<br /><br />[Updated on the 3rd of February 2006]<br /><br />I'm glad to see B. Sefaja's work is appreciated by others; the University of Pittsburgh's Professor Mike <a href="http://madisonian.net/archives/2006/02/01/kosovo-medonalds/trackback/" target="_blank">Madison</a> has just blogged his colleague Prof. Mark Walter's photograph of this kebabery. Mike Madison does, however, say that, "the dragon heads sprouting from the golden arches come from the flag of the Kosovo Liberation Army".<br /><br />To be clear, I didn't speak to this kebabery's owners or staff, whereas Mark Walter may well have done and so may know that the eagle ("dragon") is a symbol of allegiance to the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) (Ushtria Clirimtare e Kosoves (UCK)).<br /><br />The KLA flag, nonetheless, is simply the national Albanian flag - the flag of Albania - or the ethnic Albanian flag - the flag of Albanians in Albania, but also in Kosovo, Macedonia and elsewhere - inside a border formed by the acronym, "UCK", over the top and the name, "Ushtria Clirimtare e Kosoves", under the bottom, as shown on <a href="http://uckkla.blogspot.com/2005/12/uck-photo.html" target="_blank">Drobesh</a>'s UCK/KLA blog.<br /><br />Unless Mike Madison, Mark Walter or someone else can tell me otherwise, I'm going to err on the side of caution and continue to categorise this sign as an expression of ethnic Albanian cultural identity, as a marker of the Kosovo Albanian community, rather than as a KLA symbol; after all, not all Kosovo Albanians supported the KLA, let alone some of its members' (unofficial or unsanctioned) violations of human rights.<br /><br />There was another reworking of McDonald's iconography in <a href="http://prizren-community-cultural-heritage.blogspot.com/2005/12/prizren-building-58-mcdona-is-another.html" target="_blank">Prizren</a>.<br /><br />[Updated on the 22nd of November 2006]<br /><br />A friend, Sabina, confirmed that the MeDonald's sign was derived from the Albanian flag, not the Kosovo Liberation Army emblem.samarkeologhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105252320758729314noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17333908.post-1134111493961236462005-12-09T06:58:00.000+00:002005-12-09T06:58:13.966+00:00<a href='http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/216/5433/640/40600020.0.jpg'><img border='0' style='border:1px solid #000000; margin:2px' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/216/5433/320/40600020.0.jpg'></a><br />South Mitrovice building 12b: this is a detail from the site, which consists of a foundation stone with the date, 1920, on it and a painted sculpture, possibly indicating the original owner's profession, on top of it.samarkeologhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105252320758729314noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17333908.post-1134111181897668762005-12-09T06:53:00.000+00:002005-12-09T06:56:38.466+00:00<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/216/5433/640/40600019.0.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/216/5433/320/40600019.0.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />South Mitrovice building 12a: this site was constructed in 1920 and is typical of the period.samarkeologhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105252320758729314noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17333908.post-1134109891417040342005-12-09T06:31:00.000+00:002005-12-09T06:31:31.423+00:00<a href='http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/216/5433/640/40600018.0.jpg'><img border='0' style='border:1px solid #000000; margin:2px' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/216/5433/320/40600018.0.jpg'></a><br />South Mitrovice buildings 11: the buildings in the foreground appear to be new or newly renovated, but in the architectural style of the 1920s and 1930s, when there was a great deal of construction and renovation in Kosova/Kosovo; the buildings in the background are new and in an anonymous style.samarkeologhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105252320758729314noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17333908.post-1134109525668457932005-12-09T06:25:00.000+00:002005-12-09T06:25:25.690+00:00<a href='http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/216/5433/640/40600017.0.jpg'><img border='0' style='border:1px solid #000000; margin:2px' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/216/5433/320/40600017.0.jpg'></a><br />South Mitrovice building 10: I think this is a Communist monument, lionising knowledge, peace and work, as the three people in arms appear to be holding a book, a dove and a coal-pick.samarkeologhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105252320758729314noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17333908.post-1134105277407120762005-12-09T05:14:00.000+00:002005-12-09T05:14:37.413+00:00<a href='http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/216/5433/640/40600016.0.jpg'><img border='0' style='border:1px solid #000000; margin:2px' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/216/5433/320/40600016.0.jpg'></a><br />South Mitrovice's new mosque 2samarkeologhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105252320758729314noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17333908.post-1129435887169961722005-12-08T20:00:00.000+00:002005-12-09T05:03:55.306+00:00<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/img/216/5433/640/4060001511.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/img/216/5433/320/4060001511.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />South Mitrovice's new mosque 1.<br /><br />[Updated on the 25th of November 2005]<br /><br />According to locals, this mosque was built in 2003. Its construction may be a combination of a desire to provide for the current local community and a resignation to the situation in this divided city, but it may also be more.<br /><br />Even if it were entirely incidental, which I cannot confirm, this building and others like it in both south Mitrovice and north Mitrovica are produced by and help to reproduce an ethnicisation of the community and the conflict.<br /><br />As it is, with the levels of uncertainty and insecurity that remain and the depth of division that exists, this could constitute a deliberate Islamification of south Mitrovice, as the new Orthodox church could constitute a Christianisation of north Mitrovica.samarkeologhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105252320758729314noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17333908.post-1134071503264522342005-12-08T19:51:00.000+00:002005-12-09T05:03:31.686+00:00<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/216/5433/640/40600014.0.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/216/5433/320/40600014.0.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />South Mitrovice building 9: this is a memorial to "Hasan Prishtina, 1873-1933", who was the leader of the first Albanian parliament.samarkeologhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105252320758729314noreply@blogger.com0