In the unrecognised Palestinian villages of the Beer Al-Sabei’ region, the home serves as a symbol of steadfastness, resisting the occupation's attempts to seize the land. In these villages, the family home has become a waiting station for development. Yet, after decades of non-recognition, affecting homes and villages where 150,000 Palestinian Bedouins reside, they remain in limbo. What is to be done?

Through Lobna’s architectural work, she grapples with this vital question, exploring how the family home adapts under harsh conditions to bolster resilience and nurture future generations. She raises questions like: How can we strengthen the resilience of the home's underlying values through contemporary planning approaches? How do we retrieve the histories of erasure while facing active existential threats? Essentially, how can the home catalyse a fostering of societal, cultural, and economic resilience amidst settler colonialism in Beer Al-Sabe'i?

This talk will focus on the research and practices of architect and artist Lobna Al Sana in the territory of "Al-Naqab," originally known as "Bilad Gaza." In addition to providing a contextual understanding of the harsh conditions currently faced by Palestinian Bedouins in the territory, it will explore the complexities and challenges surrounding the architect's role and architectural practice in the context of settler colonialism in Palestine, particularly in Beer Al-Sabe'i.

The talk will be in Arabic. To register, please fill in the form here. 

Lobna Al Sana is a Bedouin architect and artist from the Palestinian village of Al-Lagya. Her research which is based on practices advocate for the unrecognized villages in the Naqab, shaping architectural discourse and recording societal narratives. Alsana's Ongoing project, (Un)Recognized Villages proposes alternative documentation means as well as architectural building methodologies for these villages to develop their homes, communities, and farming based on their local and historical knowledge met with contemporary technologies.