Archiving Absence

This workshop invites participants to explore the politics of archival erasure and reconstruction in the Palestinian context. Through collective discussion, listening, and reflection, we will trace how the destruction, displacement, and silencing of archives have shaped both historical narratives and personal memory.

The session will introduce different ways of “looking for history” — from official records and institutional archives to oral testimonies, family stories, and material fragments that survived time and war. Using Tantura as a case study, we will examine how Israeli “New Historians” engaged with archival sources, and what remains outside their frames — the voices, absences, and memories that resist documentation.

Participants will be encouraged to think critically about the distinction between sources and oral testimonies, and about the act of archiving as an ethical and political gesture. The workshop concludes with a reflection on why every Palestinian — wherever they are — is, in essence, an archivist: carrying, preserving, and re-telling what history tries to erase.

The format combines short presentations, collective reading/listening, and group discussion. Audio testimonies from survivors and witnesses will be played.

about

Nour Balousha is a Palestinian researcher and writer based in Brussels. She holds a Master’s degree in Middle Eastern Studies from Stockholm University and regularly contributes to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed on issues related to Palestinian culture, history, and media. Her current work explores questions of archival erasure, collective memory, and the politics of representation in Western discourse. She is currently preparing her PhD in history, focusing on the destruction and reconstruction of Palestinian archives.