På engelska/In English: Repair, Return and Reconstruction for Palestine’s Decolonized Future

Beyond physical restoration, repair holds the power to heal communities scarred by centuries of colonial violence, unaddressed trauma, and historical injustice. In Palestine, repair becomes a vital act of diagnosis—confronting both the material destruction of life, land and infrastructure by occupation and the deep intergenerational wounds carried by its people. But what can truly be repaired? Can new forms of reconstruction emerge that mend not just buildings, but also the environment, memory, and collective resilience? 

Participants:

Khaldun Bshara, Assistant Professor at Birzeit University, Palestine

Khaldun Bshara is an architect, restorer, and socio-cultural anthropologist. He serves as an assistant professor in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Birzeit University and is the Editor-in-Chief of the Jerusalem Quarterly Journal. From 1994 to 2024, Bshara was actively involved with the Riwaq Centre in Ramallah, where he served as director from 2010 to 2020. His work at Riwaq focused on documenting, protecting, and restoring Palestinian built heritage.

Dana Abbasm, Unit Director at Riwaq Center for Architectural Conservation, Palestine

Dana Abbas is an architect and researcher based in Palestine, currently working at Riwaq Center for Architectural Conservation. In 2016, Dana completed her master’s degree in Research Architecture at Goldsmiths University of London, being awarded the UK government’s international scholarship “Chevening” in 2015. Her practice and research tackles questions of urban identity in Palestine in general and Jerusalem in specific. Dana is a lead architect at The Life Jacket Project run by Riwaq aiming at the rehabilitation and revival of Jerusalem’s rural areas.

Emilio Distretti, Research Tutor at the Royal College of Art, London

Emilio Distretti is a London-based researcher and educator at the Royal College of Art’s School of Architecture. His work bridges writing, teaching, and collaborative practice toinvestigate the afterlives of colonialism—through decolonial preservation, spatial justice, and transnational struggles for reparations. Emilio holds a PhD in “Aesthetics and the Politics of Representation” from Portsmouth University and previously directed the Urban Studies and Spatial Practices program at Al Quds Bard College in Abu Dis, Palestine. He is together with Husam Abusalam a partner in the Architecture of Repair in Palestine collective and podcast.

Husam Abusalem, PhD Researcher at the University of South-Eastern Norway

Husam Abusalem is a researcher working across architecture, art, and cultural heritage. He is currently a PhD researcher at the University of South-Eastern Norway, where his doctoral thesis explores the question: “What does dignity mean to the oppressed?” In 2020, he completed a two-year post-master’s program in Decolonizing Architecture at the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm. He is a member of the Entity of Decolonization, an active collaborator with DAAR (Decolonizing Architecture Art Research), and a partner in the Architecture of Repair in Palestine collective and podcast.

The moderator for the talk is Didem Yildirim, who leads the ongoing project Bringing Objects to Life – and Challenging the Museum’s Colonial Histories at the National Museums of World Cultures. She also holds a postmaster’s degree in Decolonizing Architecture from the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm.

Architecture of Repair in Palestine is a nomadic forum that brings together architects, conservators, artists, community members, activists and academics to discuss, imagine and elaborate visions of repair for the liberation of Palestine. The project manifests through multiple/parallel collaboration taking different shapes in discussions, conversations, workshops, practice, and writings. Architecture of Repair in Palestine is organised in collaboration with the School of Architecture at the Royal College of Art in London.

In collaboration with Swedish institute of international affairs, The Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul and IASPIS – the Swedish Arts Grants Committee’s International Program for Visual and Applied Arts

Repair, Return and Reconstruction for Palestine’s Decolonized Future
Kan lagningar och reparationer också hela samhällen som är märkta av kolonialism, trauma och historiska orättvisor? I Palestina är återuppbyggnad viktigt. Den utmanar inte bara den materiella förstörelsen av liv, land och infrastruktur som ockupationen orsakat, men även de djupa sår som bärs av människor i generationer. Men vad kan egentligen lagas? Kan vi finna nya sätt att återuppbygga, som återställer inte bara byggnader, men även miljö, minnen och motståndskraft?

Deltagare:

Khaldun Bshara, Assistant Professor at Birzeit University, Palestine

Dana Abbasm, Unit Director at Riwaq Center for Architectural Conservation, Palestine

Emilio Distretti, Research Tutor at the Royal College of Art, London

Husam Abusalem, PhD Researcher at the University of South-Eastern Norway

Samtalet leds av Didem Yildirim, som leder Världskulturernas pågående projekt  Att väcka föremålen till liv och utmana museernas koloniala historier.

I samarbete med Utrikespolitiska institutet, Svenska Forskningsinstitutet i Istanbul och IASPIS – Konstnärsnämndens internationella program för bild och form.