SEMINARS / WORKSHOPS

Tuesday December 3rd, 2020 | 15:00-17:00 | EAE Rm 318 (2nd floor, glass building)

Abstract
Massafer Yatta is a region south of Hebron in the occupied Palestinian West Bank. Not dissimilar to the problems facing other places in the occupied Palestinian territories, the villages in Massafer Yatta are distinguished by several intersecting factors: there is minimal infrastructure; their residents are isolated geographically and politically as they are spread across a large arid region fragmented into politico-legal zones with overlapping and contradictory Israeli, Palestinian, and international bureaucratic frameworks; Jewish settlements and a military firing zone surround the villages. The inhabitants of Massafer Yatta therefore stand apart as one of the poorest and most vulnerable communities in Palestine. Much of the involvement of organisations and activists in the Massafer Yatta region therefore revolves around humanitarian aid, solidarity action and documentary practices. The focus of these interventions is often the dramatic and urgent situation with which the residents are confronted (primarily house demolitions and violent harassment by settlers and the military) and the economic destitution of the residents. Partly as a counter to these often paternalistic portrayals of Palestinians and the dehumanized perspective they perpetuate, between 2010 and 2018 residents of the villages, Jewish Israelis and international supporters developed a participatory project called the Living Archive - a life in south Hebron hills. By using art intervention practices, ideas of radical and critical pedagogy, community based projects, social media, activism and friendship, the Living Archive’s aim was twofold: to highlight and address the issues concerning its the local Palestinian residents and simultaneously to challenge problematic perceptions of Palestinian life and resistance under the occupation. This presentation will discuss how these elements, methods, objectives and inspirations were weaved together, while at the same time attempting to understand some implications, tensions and limitations of this evolving project.

Biography
David Massey is a media artist, documentary maker, activist and educator. His work covers a range of social and political issues including animals right, the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, intellectual property and the public domain, radical education, art intervention and media literacy. He is the cofounder of the organization Anonymous for Animal Rights, It’s All Lies collective, and the project the Living Archive - a life in south Hebron hills. He has directed numerous short films and published a graphic anthology of the Israel radical left. He received his BA from Antioch College in Communication and Film Studies and an MPhil in Art Education from the University of Cambridge.