UNRWA Archives
Co-editors: Maria Chiara Rioli and Francesca Biancani
The present issue of Jerusalem Quartely is the first of two special issues that focus on the UN agency for Palestinian refugee relief and its troubled history, reflecting a multidisciplinary approach, engaging and connecting historical, anthropological, and sociological methods. This first part concentrates on the history of the UNRWA archives from their creation to the present; the trajectories and various placements of the written, oral, and visual collections; the politics behind their material and digital preservation policies; their appearance, dispersion, or cessation; conditions of access or denial; and intertwining curatorial practices, critical archival theory, and politics.
We also include in this issue tributes to Elia Zureik from a number of his colleagues, which speak to his generosity, sharp intellect, critical approach, and bold engagement in public and policy issues. We are republishing the contribution of Zureik and Tamari, as co-editors of one of the seminal works on UNRWA’s archives, in Reinterpreting the Historical Record: The Uses of Palestinian Refugee Archives for Social Science Research and Policy Analysis (Institute of Palestine Studies, 2001).
