| Community Heritage Project: Wattan Report |
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This report documents achievements of the current phase of the Lebanese and Arab Australian Communities Heritage Project, as well as giving insight into some of the issues arising in the process of such a community cultural development project. As important, are the excerpts from some of the oral history interviews, discussions and visual documentation. These “voices” and images are most significant elements in community heritage work, and though they speak for themselves, they need to be interpreted in the context of the questions and issues raised.
wattan: redfern is the title of this phase of the project, as Redfern is a site of historical significance for Lebanese and Arab Australians. “wattan” is an Arabic word (“homeland”) which carries many layers of meaning, within the Arab world, throughout the Arab diaspora and within Australia – therefore “wattan” itself inhabits a site of significance. The project Focus Group of 1998 (first phase of the project) carefully chose this word as an open conceptual framework for the Project as a whole.
This report is also a contribution to current discussions around cultural ownership and community partnerships – as community heritage work needs to be seen in its broadest context. Material culture is only part of a spectrum of “migration heritage” work – for example, oral history shares experiences that are not necessarily part of “official migrant discourses”. Contemporary Lebanese and Arab Australian arts practices also open up sites of representation and documentation.
This Project is phase two of an initiative, which has implications for long term strategies and commitments. Complex issues and important questions have evolved through the process of the work, especially within the context of the Project’s Focus Group.