Paper short abstract:

Using the city of Asmara as an example, my film "Asmara, Eritrea" analyzes the process of building meaning into the existing environment, to understand the way societies define themselves and their heritage.

Paper long abstract:

Asmara - capital of Eritrea - is recognized as an architectural gem. In this film Asmarinos from different walks of life, guide us through the streets of their city and bring us to places of their choice. In doing so, and by talking about 'their own' Asmara, each person locates personal memories in public spaces investing the urban environment with individual meanings. Through their narrations the country's history comes to life.

This film demonstrates how an individual's narration reveals people's capacity to look at past events and repossess them as part of a collective history. A building that represents Italian fascism from a European perspective, has acquired a collective function that empties it of its colonial symbolism for Asmarinos. This process of building meaning into the existing environment from a kaleidoscope of historical memories is fundamental to understanding the way societies define themselves and their heritage. In this way, we see that the importance of a building, a place or a site is defined by the relationship people have had to it and not necessarily by the meaning these places are built or meant to represent. This demonstrates the way that historical or archaeological heritage is constructed as much from people assigning spaces with meaning as from the meaning those spaces were built or perceived to have from an external point of view. This perspective is important to approaching questions of heritage and the significance of place or space to local populations, in the fields of anthropology and archaeology.