Theory from Below: Family Museums as Spaces of Knowledge Production and Epistemological Resistance in Palestine
This intervention examines how local Palestinian communities embody "theory in action" through family-based museums, challenging traditional museological frameworks and institutional practices. Drawing from ethnographic research on three family museums in the West Bank, I discuss how these grassroots initiatives represent a form of theory in action that emerges organically from community needs rather than institutional mandates. These museums operate as living experiences where theoretical concepts of heritage preservation, cultural memory, and community engagement are tested, adapted, and reimagined through daily practice.
The analysis reveals how family museums function as sites of epistemological resistance, deploying strategies that transcend mere preservation. These museums actively challenge hegemonic knowledge production systems of colonial archaeology by legitimizing local epistemologies that have been systematically marginalized. Through meticulous documentation of family histories and material culture, they directly confront Israeli settler-colonial narratives of terra nullius landscapes. By establishing autonomous spaces for knowledge production beyond the quasi-state apparatus and NGO networks, these museums engage in what I call 'epistemic disobedience.' Their approaches to preservation, curation, and community engagement generate theoretical innovations that emerge from lived experiences of resistance to dispossession - not as abstract academic exercises but as urgent responses to ongoing cultural erasure and spatial eradication.
By focusing on how theory emerges from practice in these settings, this intervention proposes a more grounded understanding of "theory in action" - one that recognizes local communities as theoretical innovators rather than just practitioners. This work contributes to broader discussions about decolonial museum practices, community-based heritage management, and the role of families in generating new theoretical frameworks for cultural preservation. The goal is to demonstrate how family museums represent not just the application of theory but the active creation of theoretical knowledge through lived experience and daily practice.
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Mazen Iwaisi is a Palestinian archaeologist whose work is focused on the geopolitics of Palestinian archaeology practice and theory. He has obtained his PhD from Queen's University Belfast on the concept of archaeo-politics in the making of the Palestinian National Spatial Plan — his research centres on archaeology and cultural heritage and how they relate to spatial and urban planning.
