In this episode of the Palestine Podcast we invite you to listen to a fascinating discussion on how Palestinian museums, in both Palestine and the diaspora, operate politically and culturally to open up new imaginations and social futures for Palestine and the Palestinians.

The creation of a museum or archive is always a political act. At its worst, this act can be a move to relegate a people and culture to the historical past and put them on display for popular consumption, often as a product of colonial conquest. But museums and archives can be important tools in the struggle for decolonization and liberation as well. Here, they are about reaching into the past in order to support contemporary struggles and build alternative futures.

About the speakers:

Faisal Saleh is founder and executive Director of Palestine Museum US, a 6,000 square foot exhibit space dedicated to preserving Palestinian cultural history and telling the Palestinian story through the arts.

Salim Abuthaher is a Palestinian academic and Acting Manager for The Palestinian Museum Digital Archive Project. His recent research interests are focused on indigenous studies, modern socioeconomic history, everyday space-time interactions, and urban political economy of Palestine and the MENA region.

Nur Arafeh is currently working on her PhD in Economic Development at the University of Oxford.

This event was hosted the Institute of Palestine Studies as part of their webinar series on ‘Active Palestinian Archives: Preserving Palestinian Culture and Heritage’, and we thank them for allowing us to use the audio of this webinar. You can follow their work here: https://www.palestine-studies.org