Active Memory

The aim of this program is to help in reconstructing a Palestinian people’s history and engage young Palestinians in learning from, and building on the strengths of their community.

For several years now, AL-JANA has been conducting a campaign to collect oral testimonies from Palestinian refugees with particular attention to empowering experiences and cultural contributions of Palestinians in Lebanon, life histories, oral culture (folk stories and songs), recollections of the uprooting of 1947- 1948, and accounts of life in Palestine. Teams of field workers have been trained to this end, and so far 550 hours of testimonials and material, have been recorded and archived. Based on this rich archive, Al-JANA has been producing its bilingual journal Al-JANA, as well as active learning packs and multi-media productions for youth and educators, while developing a user friendly archive and website.

Some of AL-JANA’s projects include:

1948-1
Remembered in Exile: Palestinian Folktales and Folksongs from refugee camps in Lebanon.
1948 Active Learning Resources
Al jana Periodical
Since 1994 AL-JANA has produced Arabic and English issues of a journal that is focused on Palestinian memory and oral culture.
Al-Jana Periodical
Return of the Soul1
The Return of the Soul is an installation of 3200 wax figures, hand made by the youth in the Palestinian Camps in Lebanon suspended and presented a spectacular visual impression of a mass exodus.
Return of the Soul
Within the framework of the HAKAYA program, a pan-Mediterranean program reclaiming the centrality of stories in community development, financed by the European Union, AL-JANA teamed up with the Arab Education Forum (AEF), and hosted Inspirational Memory in Lebanon in 2011.
Inspirational Memory Encounter
speaking truth-1
This ongoing project in the Active Memory program, “Speaking Truth to Empower”, a campaign to collect and publish inspirational experiences of Palestinians, of all ages, who have overcome all forms of marginalization, through individual and collective effort and resourcefulness.
Speaking Truth to Empower
Palestinian Embroidery
The ancient craft of Palestinian embroidery has been passed on over generations and has even survived the ruptures of the Nakba, strife, occupation, massacres, sieges displacement and decades of exile.
Palestinian Embroidery Symposium and Workshop
POHA
The Palestinian Oral History Archive is an archival collection that contains more than 1,000 hours of testimonies with first generation Palestinians and other Palestinian communities in Lebanon
POHA (Palestinian Oral History Archive)