Making a Sense of Place for Safranbolu World Heritage Site: an Analysis of Safranbolu: Reflections of Time

Abstract

The official heritage discourse of Safranbolu, one of the first UNESCO designated World Heritage Sites, emerged at a time when traditional social structures were breaking down and the city tried to re-make itself according to modern social and economic structures. A documentary produced at the time of this process is quite remarkable in terms of its influence of understanding of heritage and identity. Produced as a constitutive and persuasive source of power, Safranbolu: Reflections of Time developed a language of heritage, place, and identity to mobilise individuals to practice heritage conservation. The documentary is therefore regarded as a ‘fabric’ of identity, signifying how meanings of place and people are crafted and constructed. In this chapter, sense of place is considered as an interpretative process dependent on meaning making through linguistic practices. In undertaking a discourse analysis of the text it was emphasised that the official heritage discourse that the documentary built could be described as ‘cultural conservatism’ and that it developed in the direction of sublimating tradition and depicting modernity as a painful experience. © 2021 selection and editorial matter, C. Michael Hall and Siamak Seyfi.