Karian cosmopolitanism: archaeology, heritage, and identity in Southwestern Turkey

This chapter explores how Kwame Anthony Appiah’s concept of ‘rooted cosmopolitanism’ helps to understand the uses to which archaeology is set in contemporary constructions of identity in Türkiye. It focuses on the ancient region of Karia and on the modern application of ‘Karianism’, an attachment to the Karian past as both distinctive and linked to contemporary identities in heritage practices in the towns of Bodrum and Milas. Through analysis of concrete applications of Karianism in Turkish archaeology, from its uses in the tourist landscape of Bodrum to recent developments in Milas since the discovery of the tomb of Hekatomnos, in addition to its appropriation by different local heritage actors, the chapter explores the complexity of a term that, while by definition exclusive, at the same time allows for a cosmopolitan dialogue to emerge that is furthermore used by individuals to construct a historicised present-day place for themselves and their communities. Finally, the chapter discusses the incentives for forging local identities connected to the past, as well as the ethical positions taken by heritage and archaeological actors who engage with local communities. It concludes that local investment in heritage does not negate its global dimension but is deeply enmeshed in both national and cosmopolitan agendas.