Call for Applications
Until the mid-20th century, the majority of Palestine’s population lived in villages, small towns, and rural encampments. Yet scholarship has long privileged the city, sidelining the countryside as static, marginal, or primitive. In recent years, a growing body of sources—archival, cartographic, archaeological, and oral—has opened new avenues for understanding the lived experiences, spatial practices, and cultural worlds of rural Palestine.
This workshop series brings together historians, archaeologists, geographers, ethnographers, linguists, and material culture specialists to explore the Palestinian countryside in an integrative, interdisciplinary framework. Combining written, oral, and material sources, the workshop will foreground longue durée perspectives and spatial analysis, connecting local histories to wider regional and global processes.
We welcome applications from scholars at all career stages whose work addresses rural Palestine and the Levant in the Ottoman and Mandate periods, broadly conceived. Contributions may address such themes as:
- Settlement, migration, and demography
- Land use, agriculture, and environment
- Rural toponymy and landscape memory
- Oral history, ethnography, and local knowledge
- Material culture, architecture, and archaeology of rural communities
- Intercommunal and regional connections across the Levant
Format and Dates
Workshop participants will meet in person at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute (with Zoom access for international audiences). Each session will feature pre-circulated papers and collective discussion. Sessions will be held from 14:00–16:00 on the following dates:
- 11 November 2025
- 23 December 2025
- 24 February 2026
- 24 March 2026
- 28 April 2026
- 26 May 2026
- 23 June 2026
Publication Opportunity
Selected workshop papers will be invited for inclusion in an edited scholarly volume to be prepared following the workshop. This volume will present theoretically sound and empirically rich contributions on the Palestinian countryside and is planned for submission to a leading academic press in 2026.
How to Apply
Interested applicants are invited to submit
1. A letter of interest (max. 600 words) describing the proposed project and its relevance to the workshop’s themes
2. A short CV (max 3 pages)
Please send materials to Dr. Roy Marom (Workshop Coordinator) at: roym@vanleer.org.il
Deadline
Applications are due by 25 September 2025.