This form invites contributions of Palestinian oral history, defined as first-person testimony that documents memory, knowledge, experience, and heritage. The Bayt wa Balad project centers Palestinian voices and experiences, and submissions are open only to individuals who are Palestinian.
We seek oral histories about specific art or craft practices, family traditions, or other forms of cultural heritage connected to art and objects in Palestinian arts and culture as a whole as well as the Museum of the Palestinian People’s collection, such as the key, passports, or birth certificates preserved by families in diaspora. These stories help situate material culture within lived experience, restoring oral transmission as a vital form of knowledge, and ensure that Palestinian lives remain central to the project’s record.
Have you inherited a key that belongs to your Palestinian ancestral home? Today, Bayt wa Balad is collecting testimonies about keys to family homes in Palestine. It may be for a home you lived in as a child, or one you inherited from your grandparents. In your testimony, you may wish to reflect on where the key once belonged, who it belonged to, how it was kept, and what it has come to mean to you and your family.
Submissions are received and reviewed by Wafa Ghnaim, Research Lead for the Bayt wa Balad project. Learn more at www.mpp-dc.org/baytwabalad.