When the Cemetery Becomes Political: Dealing with the Religious Heritage in Multi-Ethnic Regions ed. by T. Kruse, H. Faustmann, and S. Rogge (review)

Published in 2020, When the Cemetery Becomes Political: Dealing with the Religious Heritage in Multi-Ethnic Regions, is volume 14 of the Schriften des Instituts für Interdisziplinäre Zypern-Studien series (University of Münster, Germany). The volume gathers 10 papers presented over three conferences between 2017 and 2019 (one in Münster in 2017 and two in Nicosia in 2018 and 2019) on the topic of religious heritage in multiethnic regions. The book is arranged in four sections, each representing a different geographical region: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cyprus, Greece, and Lebanon.

The first section focuses on Bosnia and Herzegovina and consists of a single paper by Ž. Tunić titled, "The Meaning of Bones in Post-conflict Societies." Tunić's paper directs our attention to the paradoxical discrepancy of bones as both subject and object and the ethical dimensions of forensic archaeology and bio-historical anthropology, especially when used in investigations of genocide and crimes against humanity. Tunić emphasizes the dangers of using scientific methods to objectify bones as evidence that can be used for different, often conflicting, political purposes, while on the other hand their treatment as apolitical subjects runs the risk of trivializing ethnic/religious conflict, war crimes, and associated atrocities, as in the case of the Yugoslav Wars. Furthermore, her paper provides valuable insights regarding the sensitivities of the deceased persons' relatives: how achieving justice through legal means and with the use of scientifically derived evidence may in fact expose them to reliving painful violence, and what it means for them having to negotiate their emotions vis-à-vis their religious beliefs and funerary practices, as in the case of Muslim victims and Sharia law. Tunić ends her paper drawing on a powerful metaphor of beauty over evil with an image of blue butterflies and wormwood plants on sites of mass graves, which she states is just a "poetic image" far from the forensic truth. She cautions that in attempting to ascribe meanings such as this to the evidence, one has to be careful not to undermine its brutal reality (23).

The second section of the book focuses on Cyprus (five papers), with a strong emphasis on religious heritage. Theodosios Tsivolas presents the legal complexities of addressing Cyprus's divided religious heritage since the 1974 events that led to the geographical and ethnic division of the island. His paper examines the legal discrepancies in terms of both international laws and domestic legislation while he focuses on three major issues that he poses as questions. The first issue concerns the legal definitions of "heritage" and "cultural property," which, in his view, are both incomplete notions relying upon other nonlegal disciplines (history, art, archaeology, ethnography) "in order to define in each and every case their true content" (28). He argues that while "property" refers mainly to movable or immovable objects (sites, structures, or objects), "heritage" is a broader and more abstract/ideal notion encompassing both material and nonmaterial elements (oral traditions, rituals, sacred landscapes). While the Antiquities Law, established by the British in 1905 with several amendments since then, recognizes as antiquities religious objects and sites of all religious groups that are historically represented on the island (Christian, Muslim, Jewish), such objects can be declared monuments only after the prior consent of the respective religious authority in charge of them (29). At the same time, the law provides that duly declared monuments can still be used by worshippers for religious purposes. Also, the Antiquities Law and its scope of protection of religious monuments and sites has been broadened by incorporating international legislation ratified by Cyprus, like the 1972 UNESCO World Heritage Convention. The legal status of Cyprus's religious heritage and...