About the project

How can we archive against genocide, occupation and colonialism in Gaza, elsewhere in Palestine, and neighbouring Lebanon while avoiding the pitfalls of white guilt and paternalistic benevolence? How can we engage colonized and besieged populations in knowledge production and heritage practices to articulate a robust decolonial archival praxis (Ghaddar and Caswell 2019)? These questions are at the centre of the RPA Decolonial Futures Seed Grant “Fighting Erasure: Digitizing Gaza’s Genocide and the War on Lebanon” led by Prof. Jamila Ghaddar (Assistant Professor in Archival Information & Digital Humanities, AIHR). The Seed Grant launches the Lebanon component of Fighting Erasure and contributes to ongoing participatory action research, archival and teaching project housed at the Archives & Digital Media Lab (ADML), American University of Beirut, and Arab American University-Ramallah. The project will help lay the groundwork for an oral history initiative to fill archival and documentary gaps, build networks of knowledge exchange, and organize consultative sessions designed to build trust, partnerships, and engage local communities in decisions making and project planning. This will support the documentation of the destruction of cultural heritage collections in South Lebanon through preservation training and drawing resources to boost international support for indigenous researchers, scholars, and heritage stewards. It will also increase access and draw attention to the importance of cultural heritage collections in Lebanon.

"Fundamentals of Archival Management & Oral History for Lebanese & Palestinian Cultural Resilience"

In this first spotlight on “Fighting Erasure’”, we highlight two key events that have worked towards fulfilling these aims. Between the 10-19 November 2025, an in-person course on “Fundamentals of Archival Management & Oral History for Lebanese & Palestinian Cultural Resilience” took place in Beirut. This was part 3 of an ongoing training initiative on safeguarding archives, building resilience in Palestine, Lebanon & the Global South. The training initiative- designed for archivists, librarians and heritage professionals based in Lebanon- was grounded in a critical anticolonial and decolonial framework from The Adelaide-Tandanya Declaration, which goes beyond the Eurocentrism of the Western-dominated archival field to engage alternative practices emerging from communities and movements. It focused on key components of planning and implementing oral history and digitization projects for archival collections and records, as well as knowledge-sharing and building resilience in regions where cultural heritage preservation is under threat.  Click here more information on the topics covered in the course and the other training rounds in the Fundamentals of Archival Management & Emergency Mitigation in Palestine, Lebanon & the Global South.  

"Resilient Archives, Resilient Communities”

The second event took place on the 5- 7 of December 2025, in the form of a conference on "Resilient Archives, Resilient Communities”. The symposium featured seven keynotes, over 30 speakers and nine panels focused on the work and perspectives of archivists, memory workers and cultural stewards in Palestine and Lebanon who are building networks of knowledge exchange and initiatives that engage local communities. Importantly, it highlighted local voices in international debates on transitional memory, digital archiving in conflict zones, with a focus on community-centered models of heritage that contribute to a broader global shift toward ethical, equitable, and community-embedded digital preservation. Together with the RPA Decolonial Futures (UvA), the conference was co-sponsored and supported by  the Fighting Erasure project, the International Council on Archives’ Programme Commission, the International Council on Archives’ Palestine Archives Task Force, the Middle East Librarians Association’s Archives & Records Advocacy & Training Group, Archives & Digital Media Lab, the Archival Community – Palestine, the Lebanese Library Association, Litwin Books, and the Archival Technologies Lab at City University of New York.

For further updates on  “Fighting Erasure” keep an eye on our website, newsletter and LinkedIn.