Mediterranean Voices

Mediterranean Voices is a major research project and partnership initiative between London Metropolitan University and a variety of institutions across the Mediterranean basin, including universities, libraries and other non-governmental organisations. The project comprises a series of neighbourhood-based studies involving the collection and recording of oral histories and memories of residents in the cities of, Alexandria, Ancona, Beirut, Bethlehem, Chania, Ciutat de Mallorca, Granada, Istanbul, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Marseille, Nicosia North, Nicosia South, and Valletta, which are then placed in an interactive, multi-media and multi-lingual database accessible via the web (the Med-Voices website is still under construction).
The oral histories being collected include, family histories; memories of places and important events; local folklore, rituals and customs; festivals and holidays; as well as a number of daily practices which are part and parcel of everyday life, working and socialising in these cities and certain neighbourhoods within them. Through its use of ethnographic research techniques, and working alongside local target group associations, the Mediterranean Voices project explores the everyday social interactions and cultural practices which help to shape the meaning and character of Mediterranean urban quarters. In this regard the project seeks to reverse the customary emphasis given to monumental heritage and to create a space for the expression of less frequently heard voices which, for a variety of reasons, are often absent or effaced in monumental aspects of urban cultural heritage.
The Mediterranean Voices website and interactive database represents an innovative research tool and archive of ethnographic data. It also offers a means of promoting greater awareness of the cosmopolitan intangible cultural heritage of Mediterranean urban landscapes amongst as wide an audience as possible: academics, policy-makers, civil society organisations, educational institutions, and the interested general public, particularly members of the ‘Mediterranean diaspora’. Working in collaboration with certain target groups, including local authorities, neighbourhood associations, cultural and heritage institutions, musicians and artistic associations, museums, non-government organisations, tour guides, schools, and, university departments, the collected material is also being used to develop a series of events across the Mediterranean region: seminars, workshops, conferences, documentary films, and exhibitions. A roving exhibition (Shared Spaces in Times of Crises: Memories of Alexandria, Ancona, Beirut, Bethlehem and Split) is planned for the end of 2004, and in 2005, the project consortium will host an academic conference whose principal theme will be to explore the ever-present challenge of sharing space and living together in Mediterranean cities.

CO-ORDINATOR

International Institute for Culture, Tourism & Development,
London Metropolitan University
277-281 Holloway Road, London N7 8HN, UK
Julie Scott

PARTNER

IMCS Intercollege Ltd
46 Makedonitissas Ave, 1700 Nicosia, CYPRUS
Nicos Peristianis

Gençlik merkezi Birligi (Youth Center Union)
Mailing address: Kirzrlbas Lefkosa, Mersin 10 - Turkey, CYPRUS
Huseyin Gursan

Library of Alexandria – The Alexandria & Mediterranean Research Center
El Shatby, 21526 Alexandria, EGYPT
Yasser Aref

Association d'Anthropologie Méditerrenéene
BP 462, 13093 Aix en Provence, FRANCE
Abdelmajid Arrif

University of Crete - Department of Sociology
74100 Crete, GREECE
Maria Kousis

Centro per l'Europa Centro-Orientale e Balcanica - Università di Bologna
corso della Repubblica 88A, 47100 Forlì, ITALY
Stefano Bianchini

American University of Beirut
P.O. Box 11-0236, Beirut, LEBANON
Samir Khalaf

University of Malta - Department of Management - FEMA
MSD 06 Msida, MALTA
Carmel Fsadni

Centre for Cultural Heritage Preservation
P.O. Box 2000, Bethlehem, THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY
Christiane Dabdoub Nasser

Universidad de Granada - Facultad de Ciencias de la Educacion
Campus de Cartuja S/n, 18071 Granada, SPAIN
Gunther Dietz

UIB - Universitat de les Illes Balears
Cifre de Colonya, 07122 Ciutat de Mallorca, SPAIN
Marc Morell

ARCA - Associacio per a la Revitalitzacio deis Centres Antics
Carrer de la Pau 5, 07012 Ciutat, Canary Isles, SPAIN
Ferran Ribes

Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria - Departamento de Arte, Ciudad y Territorio
Campus Universitario de Tafira, 35017 Las Palmas de GC, Canary Isles, SPAIN
Margaret Hart

The Economic and Social History Foundation of Turkey
Valikonagi Cad., Samsun Apt No. 57, Kat: 2-3-4, Nisantasi, 80220 Istanbul, TURKEY
Aynur Leblebicioglu