Turathna al-Hayy

Turathna al-Hayy is a workshop that will bring together scholars, creatives and communities engaged with Palestinian and Egyptian heritage in its many forms. Our conversations will focus on living heritage, especially forms of heritage that are actively being erased or are at risk of disappearing, with focus on heritage as part of community memory and shared futures.

Cultural heritage, both tangible and intangible, plays a central role in collective self-fashioning and enriching community life. It enlivens collective memory and serves to cultivate shared futures. Yet heritage today faces a number of acute and accelerating challenges. In the case of cultural heritage in South West Asia and North Africa (SWANA), geopolitical violence, economic instability, expanding urban populations and contemporary infrastructure development, and intensifying climate pressures all pose threats to both heritage and human life. In the Cities on the Edge: Documenting, Preserving, and Teaching Endangered Urban Heritage in Egypt, Sudan and Palestine workshop (The American University in Cairo, October 2025), we convened an international group of scholars and heritage practitioners working in Egypt, Sudan and Palestine to work together to understand the specific threats facing SWANA heritage, as well as the ways in which professionals and students in the fields of archaeology, anthropology, architecture, art history and cultural heritage can safeguard tangible and intangible heritage in times of crisis. Building on the knowledge shared in this event, Turathna al-Hayy will feature conversations that celebrate living heritage, including forms of heritage that are actively being erased or are at risk of disappearing.

Sponsors:

Sheikh Hassan Abbas Sharbatly Department of Arab and Islamic Civilizations, The American University in Cairo; University of Toronto School of Cities; University of Toronto Archaeology Centre; University of Toronto Jackman Humanities Institute; and the University of Southampton.