Laurent Dissard
Anthropologist of Turkey and the Middle East
Research: Heritage • Archaeology • Memory • Museums • Infrastructure
Email: laurent [dot] dissard [at] univ-pau [dot] fr
Profile
Laurent Dissard is an anthropologist of Turkey and the Middle East specializing in heritage politics, memory, museums, and the archaeology of infrastructure. His research examines how archaeological knowledge, heritage institutions, and large-scale infrastructures reconfigure historical landscapes and shape the visibility of the past.
He has conducted extensive ethnographic fieldwork across eastern Turkey examining heritage politics in relation to large-scale infrastructural development, particularly large dam projects on the Euphrates and Tigris rivers. His work explores how archaeology, heritage management, and cultural policies intersect with questions of displacement, historical recognition, and the governance of cultural and religious difference.
Laurent Dissard is based at the University of Pau and Pays de l’Adour (UPPA) in France, where he is involved in research projects related to heritage, memory, museums, tourism, and digital humanities. He is also affiliated with the Center for Turkish, Ottoman, Balkan, and Central Asian Studies (CETOBaC, UMR 8032, CNRS) at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (EHESS) in Paris.
He is currently completing Submerged: Archaeological Rescue and Historical Erasure in Eastern Turkey, a book that examines how dam construction reshaped archaeological practice and the governance of the past. His work asks how societies preserve the past even as landscapes, histories, and memories are submerged.
Appointments and Affiliations
Associate Researcher: University of Pau and Pays de l’Adour (UPPA), Pau, France
Affiliated Researcher: Center for Turkish, Ottoman, Balkan, and Central Asian Studies (CETOBaC, UMR 8032, CNRS), School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (EHESS), Paris, France
Education & Teaching
Laurent Dissard holds a PhD in Near Eastern Studies from the University of California, Berkeley, and was subsequently awarded an Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Wolf Humanities Center at the University of Pennsylvania and a Junior Research Fellowship at the Institute of Advanced Studies at University College London.
He has taught courses in Middle Eastern anthropology, archaeology, and history across universities in the United States, the United Kingdom, Turkey, and France, including:
- University of California, Berkeley
- University of Pennsylvania
- University College London
- Santa Monica College
- Koç University, Istanbul
- University of Pau and Pays de l’Adour
- University of Toulouse
Research
- Heritage politics and memory
- Archaeology and infrastructure
- Museums and cultural policy
- Rescue archaeology
- Turkey and the Middle East
- Infrastructural transformations of landscapes
This Website
This website brings together selected writings, research notes, conference reports, and essays related to archaeology, heritage politics, and the historical transformations of landscapes in Turkey and the Middle East. It also serves as a space to share reflections on ongoing research, conferences, and scholarly debates related to heritage, archaeology, and infrastructure.
You must be logged in to post a comment.