Charity and Humanitarian Action in the Near East from Antiquity to the Present Day (17-18/11/2019)
International Conference Ifpo Amman, Jordan, November 17th and 18th, 2019
Abstract
« Caring for the sick, the poor and the victims in the larger sense, and easing their suffering are gestures of solidarity as old as humanity », writes the political scientist Michel Maietta. Old as humanity? This is part of what this conference will try to elucidate. Material traces and texts mentioning the existence of establishments such as the Ancient ptôcheia (asylums for the poor) and xenodocheia (asylums for strangers), then the imaret (soups kitchens) and jama’iyat khayriyya (charitable foundations) during the modern and contemporary periods, bear witness of the ancientness of these practices. Retracing the history and socio-genesis of humanitarian and charitable action from antiquity until today is the objective of this international symposium focusing on the Near East. As the cradle of the three monotheistic religions, this region has seen the emergence of extensive pilgrimage networks, along which numerous structures of welcome and charitable assistance have been built. Since its reconfiguration at the beginning of the 20th century, the Near East has been the scene of multiple conflicts and major population displacements, and has therefore been a particularly important site of international humanitarian action, which has given a new form to this assistance.
This symposium will address the issue of assistance in a diachronic way, bringing together researchers from different disciplinary backgrounds around three main areas of reflection: 1. social history, concepts and categories 2. reception facilities, spaces of confinement and transformation of cities 3. religion and power.
Program
November 17th
9:00-9:30. Welcoming of participants
9:30-9:45. Introduction
Sophie Bel (SCAC, French Embassy in Jordan)
Falestin Naïli, Valentina Napolitano et Pauline Piraud-Fournet (Ifpo)
Panel 1. Social History, Concepts and Categories
Chair: Falestin Naïli (Ifpo)
9:45-10:15. La prise en charge des marginaux et des exclus dans les villes babyloniennes du vie siècle av. notre ère
Francis Joannès (Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne & CNRS, ArScAn)
10:15-10:45. Charity according to Maimonides, Arab Jewish thinker of the 12th Century
Abdul-Hameed Al Kayyali (Ifpo)
10:45-11:15. From Individual Agency to Collective Action: Waqf Endowments as a System of Communal Assistance in the Ottoman Empire
Randi Deguilhem (CNRS, TELEMMe)
11:15-12:00. Discussion & Coffee Break
12:00-12:30. Une réflexion sur la notion de « catégories nationales » de réfugiés en Jordanie
Solenn al-Majali (Ifpo)
12:30-13:00. Exploring the worlds of “doing good” practices. Insights from a collective interdisciplinary and comparative research on beneficence and charity
Laura Ruiz de Elvira (IRD, CEPED) & Sahar Aurore Saeidnia (ULB & OMAM)
13:00-13:30. Discussion
13:30-14:30. Lunch Break
Panel 2. Facilities and the Transformation of Space
Chair: Valentina Napolitano (Ifpo)
14:30-15:00. À la recherche des hospices de la province d’Arabie byzantine (ive-viie siècles ap. J.-C.)
Pauline Piraud-Fournet (Ifpo)
15:00-15:30. I was a stranger and you welcomed me (Mt 25.35). Pilgrims Care and Hospitality in Byzantine Holy Land and Jerusalem
Michele Voltaggio (Archaeologist, Rome)
15:30-16:00. Inestimabilia opera misericordiæ : Hospices in the Holy Land in the Crusader period
Patricia Antaki (Université de Poitiers, CESCM)
16:00-16:45. Discussion & Coffee Break
16:45-17:15. «Feeding only for the Face of God»: Functioning of the Simât al-Khalil during the 18th Century
Şerife Eroğlu Memiş (Archive of General Directorate of Foundations, Ankara)
17:15-17:45. The Ottoman municipality of Jerusalem, a civic actor of charity?
Falestin Naïli (Ifpo)
17:45-18:15. Discussion
November 18th
9:00-9:30. Welcoming of participants
Panel 3. From Religious Institutions to Secular Organisations
Chair: Norig Neveu (CNRS, IREMAM)
9:30-10:00. Women as Patrons of Charitable Institutions in the Late Antique Near East
Marlena Whiting (JGU Mainz & MLU Wittenberg-Halle)
10:00-10:30. A transnational relief action in the Middle East after the Great War: the Catholic Near East Welfare Association
Marie Levant (Paris IV-Sorbonne, Labex EHNE & CNRS, SIRICE)
10:30-11:15. Discussion & Coffee Break
11:15-11:45. The painful process of integration of a Muslim faith-based NGO in France
Elena Qleibo (Ifpo)
11:45-12:15. Cultural identity and philanthropy from a feminist perspective
Baraa Hasanat (Jordan University)
12:15-13:00. Discussion
13:00-14:00. Lunch
Panel 4. Solidarity during Mobilities and Migrations
Chair: Kamel Doraï (Ifpo)
14:00-14:30. Providing medical assistance to Palestinian refugees in Jordan: a Melkite case study (1948-1970)
Norig Neveu (CNRS, IREMAM)
14:30-15:00. When Syrians care for Syrians: the role of the Syrian diaspora in medical humanitarian aid
Kamel Boudjemil (Expertise France)
15:00-15:45. Discussion & Coffee Break
15:45-16:30. The Generosity & Political Influence of Lebanese Diasporic Christian Patriarchates facing Syrian Migration into Zahle
Jean-Baptiste Allegrini (University College London)
16:30-17:00
Migrations syriennes et formes de solidarité en Jordanie : pistes de recherche au croisement de la sociologie des migrations et de la sociologie de l’action collective
Valentina Napolitano (Ifpo)
17:00-17:45. Discussion & Coffee Break
Conclusion
17:45-18:15
Francis Joannès (Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne & CNRS, ArScAn), Randi Deguilhem (CNRS, TELEMMe), Kamel Doraï (Ifpo)
Venue
Ifpo-Jordanie, Jabal Amman, 3, rue Ibrahim A. Zahri
Contacts & Informations
f.naili@ifporient.org / v.napolitano@ifporient.org / p.piraudfournet@ifporient.org
Scientific Comittee & Organisation – Ifpo
Kamel Doraï, Pauline Koetschet, Michel Mouton, Falestin Naïli, Valentina Napolitano, Dominique Pieri, Pauline Piraud-Fournet
