Italian archaeologist: 'I am not an expat. I am here to stay' - Turania | Türk - Turan Dünyası / Türkçü

Çaka · #1 (**permalink**) 09-10-2009, 12:06

Italian archaeologist Allessandra Ricci is by no means your average expatriate. Her integration into Turkish culture and society and her years of dedication to Turkey’s archaeological landscape have made her almost indistinguishable from a Turk.

Ricci first came to Turkey with a dream. She wanted to be a Byzantinist and when she told her mentor in Rome this, she was instructed to step foot in the Hagia Sophia at least once. “It was much more difficult to travel back in 1983, especially alone as an Italian girl to a country where I did not utter one word of the language. But I saved money for a while and made it happen,” Ricci told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review.

Following her initial visit, Ricci to-ed and fro-ed between Italy, the United States, and Turkey, where she furthered her studies, ran archaeological projects and taught. It was not until 1995 that Ricci decided to settle more permanently in Turkey and take a full-time teaching position at Ankara’s Bilkent University. As a Mediterranean woman, Ricci says, it was not too difficult to adapt. “A lot of people say that we belong to the Mediterranean world and therefore have many similarities,” she said. “Turks are quieter and more patient than Italians but the similarity in background makes it easier to adapt.”

Today Ricci is head of the archaeological department at Istanbul’s Koç University. Despite missing Italian piazza life, and having to adjust over the years to certain differences in the Turkish way of life such as charcoal heaters, Ricci’s love and passion for Turkey’s archaeological richness won out and has resulted in her settling here on a more permanent basis. “I do not classify myself as an expat. They come and go. We are here to stay and while we appreciate all the opportunities this country provides us with, at the same time we work very hard to give a lot back,” Ricci said, adding that it is possible to get a lot done in Turkey as people are willing to look ahead and infuse a positive attitude into what they are doing.

Koç’s archaeological course at both the B.A. and M.A. levels is a vigorous one, Ricci says. With only 12 students at the undergraduate level, she has, over the years, ensured broad coverage in the course materials, which are developed every year in order to give students the best opportunities. When asked how Turkish students compare with those she has taught in other countries, Ricci said they are definitely different. “The discipline does not get taught in Turkish high schools, so students come here with very little background,” she said, adding that many who enroll in her course are brought there by “kismet,” or fate: If they cannot do engineering, they often take on archaeology.

To encourage a natural curiosity among her students, the first thing Ricci asks them when they enter the classroom is where their fathers and ancestors are originally from. She then gets out a map and encourages her students to visit these places during their holidays. Ricci said this is also an exercise in analytical skills.

“Turks as a whole need to be taught about archaeology. This is a matter of realization of memory,” she said. “We need to bring out the memory, we need to dust off the black-and-white photos of peoples’ ancestors coming from small villages. People need to look back to their individual heritages.”

Ricci believes that this awareness will also help address the issues of vandalism and neglect of buildings and archaeological sites in Turkey. “Over the years, the city of Istanbul has seen a drastic transformation; a lot has disappeared as a result,” she said. “In order to prevent this, there needs to be a serious inventory and cataloging system of all buildings and artifacts and findings.”

We can not just preserve a glass, we need to also preserve what is around the glass, she added.

Ricci is currently running an excavation project in Kucuk Yalı, on the Asian side of Istanbul, the only current excavation project in the city aside from the archaeological museum. The site she is excavating with the help of students and young archaeologists is the largest surviving archaeological area on the Asian side. “It is a perfectly preserved site and I am proud to say as an Italian, an archaeologist and a woman that it has become a project for the European Capital of Culture 2010,” said Ricci, who added that the aim of the project is to show that it is possible to conserve a historic site and integrate it into people’s everyday lives.

As a part of this effort, Ricci is working to extend a bike route on the sea front to come around to the site and encourage people to view it. She is also planning an open-air film festival at the site next summer, along with an art exhibition.

“I want to see Turks and non-Turks coming to Istanbul and doing something for the city,” Ricci said, noting that collaborative efforts are the most successful ones, and adding: “I want blind people to be able to come and enjoy the site also.”

While discussing collaboration, the topic was raised of controversial new laws being discussed by the Ministry of Culture that foreign archaeologists will be allocated a Turkish archaeologist to co-lead on-site excavation works. According to Ricci, each archaeologist has his or her own imprint. If two lead a project on the site at the same time, each might consider doing different things. “This is a matter of trust, and foreign archaeologists are welcomed all over the Mediterranean,” Ricci said, giving Italy and Greece as examples. “We have come here and made a big life investment; we are not expats.”

While acknowledging that Turkey gives them the chance to work in the country, Ricci said archaeologists give a lot back and contribute greatly to the income that is generated through the exhibition of these sites. She said there are already representatives from the Ministry of Culture, who archaeologists help fund, who make reports on all the works that are carried out and ensure that nothing is taken.

“We come here with the same good intentions we have in our homes,” Ricci said. “I am sure that the minister of culture will hear our word and keep trusting us in the ways we have been trusted before.”

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