Heritage Forensics: Culture on the Front Lines of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Conflict

This talk introduces the concept of heritage forensics, a framework for studying abuses of cultural heritage in contexts of conflict, genocide, and ethnic cleansing. Drawing on the new co-authored volume, Heritage Forensics: Cultural on the Front Lines of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Conflict, the presentation examines how cultural sites became entangled in the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh during the interwar period (1994-2020). The talk considers how satellite-based heritage forensics is being deployed prospectively, to monitor hundreds of Armenian sites in Karabakh following Azerbaijan's 2023 takeover of the region and the displacement of its Armenian population. In doing so, it asks: how can satellite-based monitoring function as a form of "counter-forensics," turning surveillance technologies developed for military purposes back on the state? Can heritage forensics move us beyond retrospective documentation to actively deter erasure and support truth, reconciliation, and accountability wherever cultural heritage is at stake?