Book Launch: Shifting Grounds: Bedouin Cultural Heritage in Jordan’s Badia

In this event, the co-authors of the book Gazua Eluan and Olivia Mason will briefly introduce the book and reflect on the process of collaborating together on this project.

The event will then open up to a broader conversation about academic-artist collaborations and the value of arts and heritage in research on the Middle East and North Africa region. This will be led by three discussants who will reflect on their own research and work:

Silvia Hassouna (Durham University)

Aya Nassar (Durham University)

Joanna Allan (Northumbria University)

Information about this book:

Shifting Grounds: Bedouin Cultural Heritage in Jordan’s Badia is a collaboration between Gazua Elaun and Dr. Olivia Mason, documenting the living traditions, stories, and knowledge of Bedouin communities. Rather than reproducing romanticised or commodified portrayals of Bedouin life and culture, this book highlights and document the lived, intangible, and little-known aspects of Bedouin cultural heritage, including poetry, stories, ecological knowledge, mobility, and the beauty of tattooing.

Through Gazua’s unique photographic eye, and trips across Jordan’s Badia, the book brings to life Bedouin culture and everyday practices that risk disappearing with the passing of older generations. This book is both a record and a celebration of Bedouin cultural heritage, demonstrating its adaptability, resilience, and enduring significance. It seeks to ensure that this heritage is honoured as a living and evolving part of Bedouin identity.

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Host or Publisher Olivia Mason