Campus in Camps Initiatives

Tuesday June 18 2013, Campus in Camps, Al Feneiq Center (Dheisheh Refugee Camp)

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Beyond the Camp: Into the Common

The Campus in Camps initiatives are the result of a collective effort made by the participants in dialogue with community members, associations and collaborators. They are based on reflections and observations articulated over a year of communal learning in which knowledge emerged not as pre-constituted information but rather as critical understanding of the social and political context. A group of concepts considered fundamental for the comprehension of the contemporary condition of Palestinian refugee camps took the form of what we call the “Collective Dictionary”, the conceptual framework within which the initiatives are inscribed and find their profound and coherent meanings.

During the second year, more emphasis has been placed on the kind of knowledge that emerges from actions. Gatherings, walks, events and urban actions are meant to engage more directly with the camp condition. What is at stake in these interventions is the possibility for the participants to realize projects in the camps without normalizing their exceptional conditions and without blending them into the surrounding cities.

After sixty-five years of exile, the camp is no longer made up of tents. The prolonged exceptional temporality of this site has paradoxically created the condition for its transformation: from a pure humanitarian space to an active political space, it has become an embodiment and an expression of the right of return. The initiatives bear the names of this urbanity of exile: the garden, the pathways, the municipality, the suburb, the pool, the stadium, the square, the unbuilt and the bridge. The very existence of these common places within refugee camps suggests new spatial and social formations beyond the idea of the camp as a site of marginalization, poverty and political subjugation.

Alessandro Petti, Programme Director

PROVISIONAL AGENDA

4.30 PM THE GARDEN OPENS

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OPEN DISPLAY OF CAMPUS IN CAMPS INITIATIVES

THE GARDEN, Dheisheh Camp ( Aysar Al-Saifi, Qussay Abu-Aker, Naba’ Al-Assi, Murad Odeh)
THE SQUARE, Fawwar Camp (Nida’ Hamouz, Ayat Al-Turshan)
THE UNBUILT, Dheisheh Camp (Ahmad Al-Lahham, Aysar Al-Saifi, Isshaq Al-Barbary, Qussay Abu-Aker)
THE POOL, Arroub Camp (Saleh Khannah, Ala’ Al-Homouz)
THE BRIDGE, Dheisheh Camp (Ahmad Al-Lahham, Aysar Al-Saifi, Isshaq Al-Barbary, Qussay Abu-Aker)
THE PATHWAYS, Dheisheh Camp (Aysar Al-Saifi, Murad Odeh)
THE STADIUM, Arroub Camp (Bisan Al-Jaffarri)
THE MUNICIPALITY, Doha (Naba’ Al-Assi)
THE SUBURB, Al Shohada (Ahmad Al-Lahham, Qussay Abu-Aker)

6 PM INTRODUCTORY REMARKS
Prof. Imad Abu Kishek, Vice President, Al Quds University
Muhammad Khalil al-Lahham, Member of the Palestinian Legislative Council
Felipe Sanchez, Director, UNRWA Field Office West Bank
Barbara Wolf, Head of the German Representative Office, Ramallah

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A UNIVERSITY IN EXILE
Dr. Alessandro Petti, Director, Campus in Camps

OVERVIEW OF CAMPUS IN CAMPS INITIATIVES
Campus in Camps Participants: Ayat Al-Turshan, Aysar Al-Saify, Saleh Khanah, Isshaq Al-Barbary

6.45 – 8.30 PM OPEN DISPLAY CONTINUES

Related in press

→ Reliefweb, June 25, 2013 Read the article [English]
→ PNN, June 19, 2013 Read the article [Arabic]
→ Maan News, June 20, 2013 Read the article [Arabic]

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