Archaeology is not just about buried treasure, post-excavation analysis or even what issues exist in modern academia. Sometimes in order for us to understand where we are, we must walk in someone else’s shoes or hear from their perspective. This month’s Modern Myth Episode, I speak with Arie Akkermans, art critic, lecturer and expert in classical Greek history. Arie lives in Turkey, on the Princes Islands and gives us an ear to the ground with respect to the modern and present conflicts in the middle east as well as the way in which history plays a role in justifying aggression as well as its effect on the culture of Istanbul.
Nationalism is not confined to any one country and Arie speaks frankly on the ways in which Turkey has developed a layer of history that separates out what is focused on and what is discarded in the minds of the general public. Its not all serious though, we do have a wonderful interjection by Arie’ two cats, and he explains what it is like to be a cat in Istanbull.
Arie writes for Hyperallergic and The Mantle, please see links for more of his work
He is on Twitter @byzantinologue
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Music provided by Danny Boyle (Modern Rome)
