A Small View: An Oral History of Palestinian Refugee Camps

2000

I assisted in teaching photography to Palestinian refugees in three camps in Bethlehem - Dheisheh, Azzah, Aida- and then took the students photographs to elders in the community. They provided context and commentary on what life was like for Palestinians in the West Bank at the turn of the century.

I compiled the oral histories and photographs in a book that was reviewed by educator Wendy Ewald.

Excerpts from Wendy Ewald’s review:

“Evan Roberts’ A Small View is a very impressive piece of work. It is a steady view of an unnervingly wretched situation. Its methodical, almost matter-of-fact mode of presentation gathers a mountain of evidence (evidence in the documentary sense) so that one is able to get a clear and sometimes intimate picture of life in the refugee camps. It is easy to lose sight of how difficult it can be to sort out anything sensible under such difficult conditions, and Roberts is to be commended for this achievement.

A Small View is particularly affecting in the aftermath of the World Trade Center calamity, an “event” that triggered a flood of information and misinformation about the Middle East. I cannot help but react to A Small View as one message among many urgent messages. Given the gravity of the situation, it might be useful to consider how this exceptionally well done student work stands in relation to other “messages from the front” and how they contribute to our understanding.

Robert’s reporting, first of all, is very good –although from time to time the reader suspects he may have been regarded by his subjects as an audience for political rhetoric. It is to his credit that he did ot react by playing the role of recorder of emotional intimacies, in the manner of American television journalism. He has gathered a wide array of interviewees and deployed their responses to render a sharp picture of the camps. The photographs that trigger the interviews are on a high photojournalistic level.

If the underlying task in Roberts’ project is understood to be the retrieval of an intimate view of the camps, then the photographs reproduced in A Small View go a long way toward attaining that goal. They are, as remarked earlier, of a high photojournalistic caliber. More significantly, though, they reflect a genuine commitment to closeness with their subject. Pictures like My Uncle Made These in Prison, A Picture of the Pope’s Visit to Dheisheh Camp, and My Aunt on a Visit to My House, along with several others, are especially affecting in affirming the authenticity of the project and conveying a sense of trust between Roberts and the people of the camps. This is very good work, indeed.