Quarterly Newsletter
May 2004, Issue No. 6

Inside this edition:

• METHODOLOGY
• THEMES
• OUTPUTS

In previous issues of our quarterly newsletter, we have introduced Mediterranean Voices: Oral History and Cultural Practices in Mediterranean Cities, a project funded by the European Union as part of its Euromed-Heritage II Programme. In this issue of our Newsletter, we will present the project, which is led by London Metropolitan University and involves thirteen partner cities within the Mediterranean Region -Alexandria, Ancona, Beirut, Bethlehem, Chania, Mallorca, Granada, Istanbul, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Marseille, Nicosia North, Nicosia South, Valletta- in detail and elaborate on the different aspects of Bethlehem’s contribution in terms of approach, definition of themes, methodology and outputs.

As stated in the proposal document, the objectives of the project are multiple: to develop innovative approaches to urban heritage management; to create an ethnographic database of Mediterranean oral heritage; to foster local participation in historic conservation; to build local and regional networks of expertise; and to create a forum for civic debate and action.

It was just the kind of project that complemented our own work at the Centre, which stresses a holistic approach to the preservation work and outreach, and helps foster multiple relationships among the custodians of Bethlehem’s built heritage, oral heritage and within local society and culture to the benefit of tourism development. Its timing –it was officially inaugurated in June 2002, twenty months into the Intifada- was also opportune in the absence of other structures to advance the agenda of development after the bout of destruction of successive Israeli incursions and as a force to valorise the diverse groups that consitute Bethlehem society and enable people to reclaim their spaces at a time of growing polarisation of identities.

With exactly two years into the project, we have created a modest but rich database of Bethlehem’s oral heritage, which is a basic output of the project. We have also had the opportunity to study the complex manifestations that govern the relationship of the population to their built environment in order to guide the course of future decisions regarding the different aspects of its development. While we are still working on consolidating our local network and laying the ground for better urban heritage management, we have developed our research themes in a way that would expose Bethlehem’s heritage through the voice of narratives of its own inhabitants, which reflects the culture in the ‘process of becoming as well as being’.

During the opening address at the 1^st Partners Meeting in June 22, 2002 in London, Dr. Raoul Bianchi, Fellow Researcher at London Metropolitan University and member of the London Team, expressed his faith in the project:

“…[it] has the potential to fulfill the noble aims of participating in the construction of a robust cosmopolitan future in the context of evolving Euro-Mediterranean dialogues, but one which must nevertheless be vigilant with regard to the ideological obfuscation behind which the interests of security outflank those of fraternity, and the interests of capital usurp those of a genuinely equitable development cooperation, and above all, where the myths of national belonging subordinate visions of cosmopolitanism.”

Since the start of the project many developments have occurred which hampered our progress but they also compelled us to rethink our themes and redefine our priorities. As the noose of the occupation and borders tightened, and with the building of the Separation Wall, which is swallowing more of Bethlehem’s territory, we have watched with rising concern the impoverishment of large sections of the population, the increase in emigration, the erosion of civic awareness and deeper entrenchment in parochial groupings. We have also become increasingly aware of the importance of recording narratives of the people who are caught in such turbulent events and whose stories will have remained otherwise unheard. For Bethlehem, Mediterranean Voices is crucial, timely.

As the principal partner institution and coordinating body in Bethlehem, our Centre agreed to “provide overall scientific guidance for the local project, to develop strategies for local and regional dissemination in line with agreed outputs, to plan and implement the ethnographic research activities in the relevant urban neighbourhoods… and the collecting, storing and up-loading of ethnographic data in digital format… to identify and liaise with local target groups, to plan and take responsibility for the implementation of a local exhibition and/or cultural events, to assist (in collaboration with other regional partners) the planning, co-ordination and implementation of a regional exhibition/cultural events.” (Contract ME8/AIDCO/2000/2095-05)

Extensive preliminary research helped us define the themes to pursue and determine the list of informants for our interviews. In answer to the essential question ‘whose stories are we collecting?’ and for the sake of representation according to valid scientific criteria, we built our list of informants based on three categories:

1. the clans, the traditional social structure of the three cities of Bethlehem, Beit Jala and Beit Sahour;

2. the various communities who have settled in Bethlehem during the twentieth century;

3. the three camps for refugees, established in the aftermath of the Nakbah in 1948;

4. the diaspora: although we only have so far two interviews with two old Bethlehem women living in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, we believe that further research will need to be pursued within this category as a means of engaging the interest of third generation Bethlehemites in the history of their city as a way of securing their participation in its future development.

The selection of representatives of these categories was determined by age, experience, influence / achievements within the community and ultimately their willingness to grant us an interview.

Interviews focused on issues of integration and exclusion, continuity and dislocation, and the linkage between social spaces and physical spaces in daily life.

THEMES

Our main themes can be summarized as follows:

Life stories:

Our interviews focused primarily on accounts of life stories, recollections of high moments of history, narratives of unique experiences and simple living, rites of passage as well as happy and sad occasions.

Closed restaurant, Rechel's Tomb neighbourhood

Neighbourhoods and the people who inhabit them

The narratives of our sample neighbourhoods from Bethlehem are articulated from the standpoint of belonging, marginalisation, and displacement and dislocation within a context of unsettling politics and a threatened way of life.

Borders and the challenges of mobility

Since the dismantling of the Ottoman Empire at the end of WWI and more recently since Israel’s policy of separation intensified - a policy it is shoring up cloaked in the trappings of security- numerous borders have emerged, disfiguring the landscape, disconnecting whole communities, strangling the economy, and disrupting lives at the most intimate levels.

What we have today are enclaves of Palestinian Territories that face the immense challenges of daily survival. Checkpoints, fences, roads, confiscated tracts of land for ‘security’ are some of the forms of separation Israel uses on the ground, most recently epitomized by the Separation Wall, the ultimate symbol of Israel’s apartheid practices. People have given us accounts of their experiences.

Nostalgia and the shaping of memories

Various accounts of le-blad, the Palestine from before the Nakba, centred on constructions of particular localities, the individual village, the neighbourhood, and go beyond to a toponymic reference to the ensemble of rural and urban Palestine and a way of life that would most probably not have survived the twentieth century.

Through these accounts we have examined the layers of meaning embedded in the word le-blad, colloquial rendition of balad, meaning the homeland Palestinians have lost in 1948.

Rites of passage: confirmation ceremony

Celebrations and related cultural practices:

How do people observe important occasions and stage commemorative events? What are the cultural practices involved and how do they compare and contrast from one community to the other? How do these practices compare with those of other partner cities within the Mediterranean? In trying to answer these questions we will tap into the intangible heritage and analyse myths, stories of saints and folk heroes, songs and food.

Weddings

Weddings are happy occasions and they always provide ample material for research. Our research revolves around the marriage of one couple from Bethlehem, whose story will serve as a foil for our subject of discussion on weddings in the three towns of Bethlehem, Beit Jala and Beit Sahour, which are linked geographically, economically and culturally.

How are these themes relevant to the Centre’s work?

Our Centre’s mission is to provide a sustainable mechanism for the protection and management of cultural heritage resources in the Bethlehem District and to enhance awareness of cultural heritage in the public conscience. A critical analyses of the findings of our research should give us enough material that would help us elaborate innovative approaches to urban heritage management; explore possibilities and scenarios that would maintain the diversity of old city core functionality as both commercial centre and habitat; and create effective awareness programmes for the inhabitants of the old quarters.

OUTPUTS:

In addition to the website, which will be launched to the public later on this year and for which we are planning a launching event, our Centre is coordinating the following activities for the coming year:

1. A comprehensive bibliography on Bethlehem, compiled by Dr. Qostandi Shomali, Bethlehem University, part of which will be published on line.

2. A radio programme in partnership with the Media Centre at the Bethlehem International Center, Dar Annadwa.

3. Next September 2004, Bethlehem is hosting all partners for a meeting of the scientific committee in preparation for the regional conference, which is planned for March 2005 and which will be the closing event for the project.

4. A roving exhibition in partnership with the Library of Alexandria, the Center for Behavioral Research at the American University of Beirut and the Istituto per l’Europa centro orientale e balcanica at the University of Bologna in Italy. This exhibition will arrive to Bethlehem in April 2005.

5. A documentary video on a Bethlehem Wedding.