Nakba Archive

Reviewed by: Zelda Montes

Review start: Mrch 10, 2024

Review last updated: Aoril 3, 2024

Site Links:https://www.nakba-archive.org/

Archive Link: https://www.nakba-archive.org/

Data Sources

• Art (Illustrations)
• Video-recorded oral history interviews
• Transcripts
• Audio-recorded interviews
• Poster image
• Documentary audio piece

Processes

• Video-recorded oral history interviews are organized within a singular page to scroll through
• Audio-recorded interviews are organized and embedded within a singular page to scroll through
• Documentary audio piece is embedded within a separate page, placed alongside a poster image
• A main timeline contains all the research collected regarding the Medical Industrial Complex, which is tagged in order to filter the timeline by topic
• Articles are linked as sources within the timelines
• Illustrations on homepage carousel every couple seconds

Presentation

Upon entering the Nakba Archive site, the homepage features illustrations of people, hands, and records, commissioned by Barrack Rima. At the bottom, there is a navigation bar which links to the archive, projects, learning, about, and contact pages. All text in the site is both in English and Arabic, typically either side-by-side or one above the other, with English appearing first. In the archive page, there are thumbnails of videos and names that lead to individual pages containing embedded video-recorded oral history interviews conducted from 2003 to 2011. Each interview page in the archive has information on the name of the interviewee, location of birth, name of the interviewer, location of interview, date of interview, tags, permalink (links to the Palestinian Oral History Archive from the American University of Beirut), and transcripts. The interviews, which are in Arabic, are translated and subtitled in English. There is no navigation bar present in any of the subpages, though there is a back button that returns users to the previous page they navigated from. In both the projects and learning pages, there is text that helps to provide context, as well as links. The projects page specifically links to 4 projects hosted on the Nakba Archive: 1) Forms of Presence (featuring embedded audio-recorded interviews), 2) Sound workshop (featuring one embedded documentary audio piece), 3) Nakba Stories (which will feature published short stories), and 4) Partition (unable to open). The learning page has 4 links, though only 2 of them work: 1) Maps (leads to Palestine Open Maps), and 2) Useful Links. The presence of the Teach Modules and Bibliography links implies that more work is expected for the Nakba Archive. Lastly, the about and contact pages provides helpful information for understanding the focus of the Nakba Archive, while inviting folks to contribute and be engaged in “bringing this collaborative digital space to life.”

Digital Tools Used

• HTML
• JavaScript
• CSS

Languages

• English
• Arabic

Review

The Nakba Archive site began as a virtual collection of previously analog video-recorded oral history interviews, available via the Palestinian Oral History Archive from the American University of beirut Library. The website has the same name as the “grassroots oral history collective founded in 2002” whose focus is to honor the lived experiences of Palestinian Nakba refugees in Lebanon. The Nakba Archive is said to have a collection of over 500 video interviews, though not all are present on the site. The project is a testament to their commitment to collective knowledge production “by and for Palestinian communities living in Lebanon,” and thus is in partnership with local Palestinian schools and community organizations. The Nakba Archive is funded by the Local Engagement Refugee Research Network and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

At an overview, the Nakba Archive site centers an archive of video-recorded oral history interviews. Beyond these videos as records of Palestinian displacement during the 1948 Nakba, the site posits itself as a “living archive that offers a dynamic, evolving platform for critical and creative engagement with this vital heritage.” As such, Nakba Archive hosts projects such as Forms of Presence, which expand upon the experiences of the 1948 Nakba, and builds connections of these experiences to those of “Palestinian dispersal and presence” in refugee camps within Lebanon. Beyond the projects, the focus on the creation of learning materials highlights the need for collaborative, pedagogical engagement with regards to the Nakba. Furthermore, the invitation for viewers to engage with Nakba Archive as contributors and collaborators brings a more dynamic, living element to the site. I anticipate that the site is reaching potential audiences somewhat effectively given they are featured on a couple other sites, though it is likely that there is greater local reach within Lebanon.

While navigating the site, the biggest difficulty was the lack of a navigation bar. It was at times inefficient to explore the site, which meant that I had multiple tabs open if I wanted to jump from one page to another, such as from archive to projects. Additionally, there were a number of broken links that made it confusing for me as a viewer who was hoping for more content. Nonetheless, it is very promising to see hints of future work on Nakba Archive. It is important to note that work on this project may have been halted given the ongoing genocide taking place in Gaza, and the Israeli attacks on Lebanon.