Everyone Has a Past: Selective Heritage Definitions in National Contexts

In the Middle East, during times of secularization (that came with modernization reforms in the twentieth century), Hellenistic and Byzantine past of the multilayered historic areas are valorized and communicated. During the times of conservative religious authorities, on the other hand, this past can become detested and Islamic past is favored, preserved, valorized and communicated. This paper aims at looking at the dynamics of this process through several cases from the Middle East countries focusing on the times of social conflicts.