IN-PERSON ISTANBUL HERITAGE(S)

Abstract

An Algerian woman, swimming in the sea at the port of Marseille on France’s southern coast, nostalgically remembers her homeland: “It’s the same Sea … as in Algeria … It’s the same merguez, too” (cited in Quest 2013). Sensory experiences such as the pungent smell of the sea, the salty taste of a local sausage, become part of the precious baggage of remembrance – a virtual yet embodied return to past pleasures and, at the same time, a form of insurance for future ones. Seeking out nuances of volatility and intimacy in meanings of heritage/s, this paper narrates a walking tour through one of Marseille’s oldest food markets. The argument is framed within Iain Chambers’ (2008) challenge to visualise an “uprooted geography” of Europe, re-centring the Mediterranean in its cartography while “follow[ing] signs, suggestions, sounds, smells, and silences that propose a complex, open-ended narration of historical time and its cultural composition.” In this light, Marseille and its Marché des Capucins seems an interesting choice of focus. What does heritage mean for a city with a distinctive culinary and migrational history and a geo-political positioning on the cusp between Europe, Asia and North Africa? Likewise, does the market’s close proximity to Marseille’s port mean that this space of everyday interaction is directly affected by migrant flows and urban transformations? Analysing the role of memory and embodiment in shaping past-present intimations of Mediterranean heritage through the legacy of the changes taking place in the market becomes the critical task for this paper.