Faculty of Arts organizes symposium titled “Historiographical Uses of the Open Jerusalem Archival Database”

On Wednesday, June 14, 2023, the Department of Arts at Birzeit University organized a symposium titled “Historiographical Uses of the Open Jerusalem Archival Database” to promote the Opening Jerusalem Archives project.

The symposium is part of the Open Jerusalem Days, a multi-site event that took place June 13-18, 2023, in several Palestinian cities to publicize the Opening Jerusalem Archives project. Funded by the European Research Council (ERC), the project aims to identify, locate, classify and facilitate access to archives on the history of Jerusalem in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Dr. Falestin Naili, historian associated with the French Institute of the Near East and researcher at the Opening Jerusalem Archives project, expanded on the significance of the project by stating, “Rather than examining the city through the lenses of religious symbolism and political conflict, the project focuses on the identity of the city by investigating its historical, social and cultural contexts. It also focuses on the residents of Jerusalem and explores the relations connecting the city with other cultures.”

Dr. Munir Fakher Eldin, dean of the Faculty of Arts at Birzeit University, explained that this event aims to shed light on the city of Jerusalem in the late period of the Ottoman era and the British mandate era, which formed the modern history of Palestine generally and Jerusalem in particular.

The speakers also included Dr. Salim Tamari, senior fellow at the Institute for Palestine Studies and professor of sociology at Birzeit University; Dr. Camille Mansour, member of research committee at the Institute for Palestine Studies; Dr. Rana Barakat, associate professor at the Faculty of Arts and director of the Birzeit University Museum; Dr. Nazmi Jubeh, associate professor at the Department of History and Archaeology; Dr. Angelos Dalachanis, researcher at the French National Centre for Scientific Research, France; Dr. Maria Chiara Rioli, researcher in contemporary history at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy; and Dr. Vincent Lemire, director of the European Open Jerusalem project and lecturer at the University of Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée, France.