An exhibit in Butler Library – International Research Weblog
The Columbia College Libraries is presently internet hosting an exhibit entitled “Inscriptions Unbound: Edward Stated’s Library” on the third flooring of Butler Library. The exhibit options inscriptions from roughly 50 books chosen from Edward Stated’s e book collections that are housed within the Edward Stated Studying Room (Butler Library), the Center East Institute, and his former New York Metropolis house. The exhibit is curated by Pleasure el-Nemri (MA in Center Jap, South Asian, and African Research at Columbia College). This week, after we mounted the exhibit, I sat down with Pleasure and requested her a number of questions:
Hi there, Pleasure. Are you able to please introduce your self, your mental background and pursuits:
My identify is Pleasure Al-Nemri. I maintain a BA in Anthropology with a focus in Center Jap Research from Bard School and I’m additionally a graduate of the Center Jap, South Asian, and African Research, MESAAS Division at Columbia College the place I earned an MA in Could 2024. I’m presently concerned in a analysis undertaking on the MEI. My MA thesis explored a few of the methods through which Moroccans and Tunisians relate to Palestinians. Drawing on three months of participant observations and interviews I carried out in Morocco in 2022 and in 2023, my analysis sought to grasp how some North Africans relate to the Palestinian wrestle on a private, experiential stage, and what these totally different types of identification and solidarity reveal about group identities within the area. Prior to now few years, I’ve additionally carried out two Institutional Evaluation Board Accredited ethnographic research on Arabic-speaking refugees in Greece and Connecticut. I’ve expertise in refugee advocacy, educating, translating, and main DEI workshops. My scholarly pursuits embrace exploring the family tree of anti-Blackness in Arabic-speaking contexts, Palestine solidarity, and the way refugee crises are framed.
How did the concept of the exhibit come to you?
The exhibit got here to me in phases. Throughout my first semester at Columbia, my buddy, Anna Tyshkov–a current Columbia Anthropology alumnae–took me on my first go to to the Edward Stated Studying Room. She informed me that she would typically work within the Stated Studying Room and that she loved wanting by way of Stated’s books on her breaks. The room quickly turned my favourite place to work on campus. I couldn’t consider that I had the privilege of being surrounded by the books that formed considered one of my most cherished thinkers. I might leaf by way of the pages of the books, and picture a way of mental closeness to my aspirational mentor, Edward Stated.
Within the Fall of 2022, I used to be enrolled in Professor Brinkley Messick’s “Written Tradition” course. The course offered an exquisite alternative for me to suppose extra deeply about numerous types of texts, inscriptions, and archives. I might typically go to Prof. Messick’s workplace hours that semester, and through considered one of our early discussions the subject of Edward Stated’s books and library got here up. Prof. Messick proposed an thought, and shared {that a} graduate scholar who had since graduated, had really began wanting by way of a few of Stated’s books which might be housed within the Center East Institute. These had been books that didn’t make it to the Edward Stated Studying Room in Butler Library, however had been nonetheless donated to Columbia College. I used to be thrilled to seek out two full cabinets value of books on the MEI, and to my shock, many had inscriptions inside their fly leaves from main intellectuals, which intrigued me and piqued my curiosity: the earlier graduate scholar had additionally observed this, and had began to annotate a listing with the names of the donors of those books and of their dedications and messages to Stated. I got here again to Prof. Messick and shared my enthusiasm for this undertaking, and proposed that I might decide up the place the coed left the undertaking. Prof. Messick was enthusiastic and absolutely supportive. The MEI’s Arcapita Visiting Professor on the time, Dr. Islam Dayeh, had additionally expressed enthusiasm for the undertaking, and brought on a college supervisor function for the primary stage of this undertaking.
Later within the spring of 2023, Prof. Messick really helpful that I share the inscriptions with Edward’s spouse, Mariam Stated. That is when the oral historical past part of the undertaking developed. I bear in mind my sturdy emotions when Mariam informed me many tales about Stated’s connections to Palestine. It was particularly significant to me that these conversations had been going down through the week of the seventy fifth anniversary of the Nakba, a devastating milestone for my household and the Palestinian neighborhood at giant. Over the next yr, I might share all the inscriptions I discovered with Mariam and we might discuss endlessly. Mariam was filled with tales and she or he helped carry invaluable context to the inscriptions, the individuals behind them, and their relationships with Stated. Her steerage was instrumental in serving to me curate the exhibit, as I needed to choose solely 49 inscriptions to showcase out of a whole bunch. She was so form to open up her house to me, give me her time, and share her private picture assortment along with books from her house that I assumed would assist tie the exhibit collectively.
The Head of International Research, Kaoukab Chebaro, and the Center East & Islamic Research Librarian, Peter Magierski, additionally spent numerous hours guiding me by way of every stage of the undertaking. Kaoukab advocated for my undertaking throughout the Libraries, helped me navigate the workflows, and helped form the shape and content material of the exhibit with the utmost care. She helped spotlight key mental subjects and pointed me to key activist figures to incorporate within the ultimate exhibit. We’d talk about the wireframing for the exhibit, the final ideas, and my write-up and progress in weekly conferences. Amongst many contributions, Peter helped me keep organized and punctiliously execute every stage of the method: he offered excel sheets, exhibit mock-up frameworks, and when all was prepared, the three of us (myself, Peter and Kaoukab) spent lengthy hours approach into the night pinning the exhibit up with meticulous consideration to element, spacing and total structure. I actually couldn’t have accomplished this undertaking with out Kaoukab and Peter’s treasured assist and assist.
What was the diploma of your familiarity with the Edward Stated e book assortment previous to embarking on this curatorial journey? Why did you select to give attention to the e book assortment reasonably than on the archival assortment on this exhibit?
It is a nice query! To be sincere, I used to be extra aware of the Edward Stated Studying Room assortment reasonably than the archival assortment. The Studying Room was extra accessible to me and it initially appeared most possible to start the undertaking by wanting on the books housed within the Center East Institute and the Studying Room. If given the chance, I might love for an opportunity to broaden upon my work and look by way of the archival assortment. I’m positive there are numerous treasures there that will seemingly have a lot resonance with the inscriptions I’ve discovered, and would deepen and broaden the narrative I pointed to by way of my number of the inscriptions within the books. Way more must be informed about these tales than I used to be capable of with this exhibit.
How fantastic! Extra to stay up for. Hopefully, this may be continued at some stage. What was the curatorial course of or precept you adopted, and the way did you give you the varied window themes?
After discovering a whole bunch of inscriptions, I had the painful process of narrowing down which tales I might share. Mariam and Kaoukab had been most useful to me. I needed to decide and select whether or not or not I might prioritize an inscription primarily based on the inscriber, their relationship with Edward, and the standard of what they wrote. This was the toughest factor for me: to study to let go, to prioritize and suppose by way of methods to write an exhibit and a label in 100 phrases, reasonably than in 2000 phrases or extra, as in writing a scholarly paper or report. After narrowing down some names, I made a decision early on that I needed every window theme to signify the title of considered one of Edward’s books. I then related the inscriptions to the e book themes that appeared to take advantage of sense. Within the later phases of the curation, I made a decision to have an introductory window and made the ultimate alternatives of images from the Stated household’s private assortment.
Which window, or which gadgets from the exhibit are your favourite, and why?
It is a very laborious query for me to reply, however I must say that After the Final Sky: Palestinian Lives is my favourite window. I like how Jean Mohr’s photos from the e book assist showcase the sweetness and resilience of the Palestinian individuals. These photos are juxtaposed with inscriptions from Palestinians whose gratitude and love for Edward shine by way of. This exhibit is just not solely a commemoration of Edward Stated as an individual and public mental; it’s additionally a testomony of the inextricable bonds that the Palestinian neighborhood has with the land and one another, regardless of the trauma of the continuing Nakba and exile. 
What stunned you concerning the strategy of curating an exhibit corresponding to this one? What did you study?
This was the most effective studying experiences of my life. Researching and curating this exhibit helped me preserve myself open for surprises. I used to be shocked by what number of inscriptions had been left to each Mariam and Edward–a testomony to how the each of them cast significant private and mental relationships. I additionally was heartwarmed to see inscriptions from many people who didn’t know Edward personally, however felt compelled to ship him books. The character of many of those relationships had been corroborated by Mariam, which I so typically couldn’t have been capable of know in any other case.
The method of curating the exhibit was additionally a fantastic mental and writing train. It was my first exhibit the place I wrote for the broader public, reasonably than for my instructors in a classroom setting. With nice steerage from Kaoukab and Peter, I aimed to point out, reasonably than inform tales. The main points from the inscriptions I dropped at focus all through the exhibit embody the connections and narratives I used to be most excited to share out..
What had been a few of the challenges and rewards you encountered?
This undertaking introduced me immense pleasure and luxury throughout an extremely tough and emotionally charged time. Whereas there have been many challenges that I confronted all through this endeavor, I really feel grateful for all the methods I discovered to navigate by way of every problem that arose. It was my first time doing archival work–not to mention with over 4,000 books housed in three totally different areas. I started the undertaking by wanting by way of about 1,000 of Edward’s books that had been positioned in an workplace within the Center East Institute. Whereas most of those books had been on the cabinets, two years later I paid nearer consideration to six giant cardboard packing containers that I found held dozens of Edward’s books. These packing containers had been sealed for almost 20 years and nobody actually had the bandwidth to account for them.
There have been logtistical challenges and issues of entry, too: the second section of the undertaking befell in Butler Library’s Edward Stated Studying Room. Whereas I had began wanting by way of the books previous to October 7, 2023, there was a interval within the Spring of 2024 coinciding with the studnet rotests and the locking of the campus to important workers solely: I needed to wait till campus reopened to guests to examine some books.
On the rewards entrance, I cherish the chance I used to be given to work by way of the fabric on this approach, almot as an ethnologue–what can the trajectories of books inform us concerning the individuals who cherish them? –I dug into the inscriptions–each terse and longer-form letters–that had been hidden throughout the binds of Edward Stated’s books for many years, with curiosity and actual pleasure. It was additionally rewarding for me to share these inscriptions along with his spouse, Mariam Stated, and assist her recount misplaced recollections and uncover new connections.
Are you planning any occasions to go along with the exhibit?
Sure! I’m planning a chat at Columbia later this spring that may go into extra element concerning the undertaking and my findings. I hope to ask Mosab Abu Toha, who based the Edward Stated Public Library in Beit Lahia, North Gaza in 2017. This was Gaza’s first English language library and it was tragically destroyed by Israel on January 22, 2025 throughout its ongoing genocidal marketing campaign towards Palestinians. I consider that Mosab’s personal work will assist praise and shed new gentle alone work. As soon as the exhibit is taken down on the 77th anniversary of the Nakba (Could 15, 2025), I hope to put in a great a part of it in Knox Corridor. Inshallah, extra occasions to come back!
If there’s one message you’ll convey to the viewers of the exhibit, particularly the scholars, what wouldn’t it be?
The story that merges from this exhibit is considered one of a person greater than life, a dedicated public mental with a superb and daring thoughts and a formidable erudition; a humorous and witty interlocutor; a heat buddy, an exacting and beneficiant trainer, a curious and engaged colleague, however most of all–a morally brave humanist who spoke reality to energy. These dedications reveal the enduring legacy of a person whose ardour for social justice and mental integrity continues to encourage and form discourses throughout generations, particularly round Palestine and justice for Palestinians.
For inquiries relating to the Edward Stated Studying Room, e mail: Kaoukab Chebaro: International Research, Head: kc3287@ columbia.edu
For inquiries relating to our intensive Center Jap research collections, e mail: Peter Magierski:The Center East and Islamic Research Librarian: pm2650@columbia.edu
For inquiries relating to the Edward Stated archvial papers, e mail RBML workers at: rbml@library.columbia.edu to e book an appointment
Kaoukab Chebaro, International Research, Head, Columbia College Libraries
