Insights

Welcome to Insights! Formerly our long-running quarterly e-update, since 2020, Insights has been our blog, hosting essays by fellows, interns, staff, and others.

Jordanian Women and the Digital Economy During COVID-19

Jun 21, 2022 Posted in ACOR, ACOR Projects, CAORC, Fellowships, Insights, Research Tagged with CAORC Fellow, economics, labor, Women

by Allison J. Anderson Jordan’s low female labor force participation rate has long confounded policymakers, researchers, and activists. Despite achieving progress on several determinants of female labor force participation over the last decade, including increasing levels of female educational attainment, higher ages of marriage, and lower rates of fertility, less than 15 percent of women are…

Ammonite Kings and Gods in Stone: Reading the Iconography in Its Broader Near Eastern Context

May 10, 2022 Posted in ACOR, ACOR Projects, Fellowships, Insights, Named Fellowships, Research Tagged with named fellowship, Pottery, Tell Abu Sarbut

by Joel S. Burnett A visit to the Jordan Archaeological Museum on the Amman Citadel or the Jordan Museum in Ras al-Ayn brings you up close with multiple examples of stone statuary from Iron Age Amman (ca. 1150–550 BCE). These impressive sculptures include miniature statues of standing anthropomorphic figures and life-size and nearly life-size sculpted…

Exploring the Political Economy of Cultural Heritage

Mar 30, 2022 Posted in ACOR, Fellows, Fellowships, Insights, insights, Named Fellowships, politic, Research Tagged with Archaeology, Cultural Heritage, ethnography, Madaba, political economy, political science, research

Sign at a heritage site under development in Madaba.

by Charlotte Vekemans “Heritage is Jordan’s oil.” This statement, which I heard from heritage experts, development workers, and Jordanian government officials, has come to be the most captivating way for me to summarize my PhD project. With the support of a Harrell Family Fellowship granted by the American Center of Research, I conducted field research…

Ethnographic Research on Graffiti/Street Art, Youth, and Urban Space in Amman

Feb 10, 2022 Posted in ACOR, ACOR Projects, CAORC, Fellowships, Insights, Research Tagged with Art History, CAORC Fellow, CAORC Fellowship, Urban Studies

A graffiti/street art wall in the Jabal Al-Luweibdeh neighborhood

by Kyle Benedict Craig With support from an ACOR-CAORC Predoctoral Fellowship, I conducted dissertation fieldwork on Amman’s graffiti/street art scene from May to August 2021. During this period of on-site fieldwork, I attended art exhibitions, observed graffiti/street art painting sessions, participated in walking tours of Amman’s public art scene, and conducted semiformal interviews with artists,…

Analysis of the Early Islamic Pottery from Tell Abu Sarbut, Jordan (700–1000 CE)

Dec 16, 2021 Posted in ACOR, ACOR Projects, Fellowships, Insights, Named Fellowships, Research Tagged with named fellowship, Pottery, Tell Abu Sarbut

Katarína Mokranova in a workroom at The American Center of Research.

by Katarína Mokránová I remember well the time when I was learning how to write. It took years for my first crooked letters to become the handwriting that, admittedly, I am still not quite so proud of today. When I get tired, the text that I write transforms into an indecipherable sea of wavy lines….

Sustainable Tourism and the Cross at Umm el-Jimal

Nov 15, 2021 Posted in ACOR, ACOR Projects, CAORC, Faculty Development Seminar, Insights, Petra, SCHEP Tagged with Architecture, Art History, Bert de Vries, Byzantine, Petra, Petroglyphs, Sustainable Tourism, tourism, Umm el-Jimal, wadi rum

by Elizabeth Ursic, PhD In 2020, ACOR hosted a two-week faculty seminar in Jordan called “Sustainability at the Margins,” co-sponsored with the Council of American Overseas Research Centers (CAORC). The seminar explored the opportunities and challenges Jordan is facing as one of the most water-poor countries in the world, with a growing population and a…

“Ask A Scholar” with predoctoral fellow Kendra Kintzi

Sep 9, 2021 Posted in AskAScholar, CAORC, Fellows, Fellowships, Insights, Life@ACOR, Profile, Research Tagged with Amman, daily life, ethnography, infrastructure, renewable energy

This written interview is part of a new series on Insights, “Ask A Scholar,” through which we highlight the personal experiences of fellows and other affiliated researchers. The following conversation with Kendra Kintzi (ACOR-CAORC predoctoral fellow, 2021–2022) took place by email in July 2021. Thanks for joining us on Insights! Tell us a little more about yourself…

The Challenges and Benefits of Preservation: Reflections on “Human Heritage”

Jul 7, 2021 Posted in ACOR Interns, ACOR Projects, Insights, Lecture, Petra, Photo Archive, Research Tagged with getty, palmyra, preservation, Syria

by Carly J. Cormier The most recent ACOR virtual lecture event, “Human Heritage: Preserving Palmyra, Petra, and Hatra,” was cohosted with the Getty Research Institute (GRI) to commemorate the launch of the Getty’s new interactive online exhibition, Return to Palmyra. The presenters discussed the unique set of challenges regarding preserving the cultural and physical remains of…

Faculty Development Seminar Alumna Aimee Samara on “Peace-building and Conflict Transformation through a Humanitarian Lens” (Forthcoming Study-Abroad Program in Jordan)

Jul 1, 2021 Posted in CAORC, Hostel, Insights, Life@ACOR Tagged with community college, FDS, peace, peace and conflict, SCHEP, seminar, students, study abroad, USAID SCHEP

by Aimee Samara Krouskop Instructor Aimee Samara Krouskop, an alum of the “Sustainability at the Margins” faculty development seminar (jointly coordinated by ACOR and CAORC in January 2020), discusses an in-person study-abroad program she has developed and is offering for students through Portland Community College in the coming academic year: Peace and Conflict in Jordan:…

Wellbeing and Living Well: Ethnographic Approaches to Health and Disability

Jun 27, 2021 Posted in Fellows, Fellowships, Hostel, Insights, Lecture, MESA, NEH, Research Tagged with care, disability, ethnographic, ethnography, health, language, medicine, refugee studies

by Christine Sargent, with Timothy Loh and Morgen Chalmiers What can ethnography contribute to our understandings of health and disability in Jordan and elsewhere? In this roundtable event, Morgen Chalmiers (University of California San Diego), Timothy Loh (MIT), and I offered provisional responses by drawing on fieldwork in Jordan and the United States while reflecting…

التراث الإنساني: الحفاظ على تدمر، البتراء والحضر

Jun 20, 2021 Posted in Insights, Lecture, Research, VideoLectures Tagged with hatra, Iraq, nabataean, palmyra, Petra, preservation, Syria

المركز الأمريكي للأبحاث و معهد بحوث جيتي يقدمان وبكل فخر التراث الإنساني:الحفاظ على تدمر، البترا والحضربرنامج عبر الفضاء الإلكترونييوم الأربعاء 16 حزيران وصف البرنامج: تحكي التواريخ القديمة لمدينة تدمر (سوريا) والبترا (الأردن) والحضر (العراق) قصة التبادل الثقافي بين هذه المدين، حيث تشارك سكانها طرق التجارة، كما قاموا ببناء آثار مماثلة، وعبدوا آلهة محلية وإقليمية مشتركة. ورغم…

“Human Heritage: Preserving Palmyra, Petra, and Hatra”

Jun 20, 2021 Posted in Insights, Lecture, Research, VideoLectures Tagged with hatra, Iraq, nabataean, palmyra, Petra, preservation, regional, Syria

تصفّح/ي المعلومات باللغة العربيّة هنا ACOR and the Getty Research Institute Proudly Present:“Human Heritage: Preserving Palmyra, Petra, and Hatra”Hosted on Zoom on Wednesday, June 16, 2021 This program is also available in Arabic. About the program: Cohosted in Arabic and English by the Getty Research Institute and the American Center of Research in Jordan, this…

A Journey from the Excavation Archive Back to the Site: The Architectural Decoration of the Temple of the Winged Lions, Petra

Jun 14, 2021 Posted in ACOR Projects, Fellows, Fellowships, Insights, Petra, Research, TWLCRM, TWLCRM News & Video Tagged with Architecture, capitals, excavation, excavation archive, nabataean, Petra, publication, temple, temple of the winged lions, templed of winged lions

by Marco Dehner In my recent role as a fellow at ACOR, it was my responsibility to assist with the preparation of the upcoming final publication of the Temple of the Winged Lions (TWL) and to conduct my own research about this Nabataean- to Roman-era (1st–4th-century AD) site in Petra, Jordan, which will lead to…

“Ask A Scholar” with ethnomusicologist Melissa J. Scott

May 24, 2021 Posted in AskAScholar, CAORC, Fellows, Fellowships, Insights, Life@ACOR, Profile, Research Tagged with humanitarian, music, oud, syrian

This written interview is part of a new series on Insights: “Ask A Scholar,” through which we highlight the personal experiences of fellows and other affiliated researchers. The following conversation with Melissa J. Scott (ACOR-CAORC predoctoral fellow, 2019–2020; fellow in residence at ACOR winter 2020–spring 2021) took place by email in April and May 2021. Thanks…

“The Landscape of Research in Jordan and in the Arab Region: Challenges, Transformations, Prospects”

May 24, 2021 Posted in Insights, Lecture, Research, VideoLectures Tagged with anthropology, ethnography, political science, social science, sociology, translated

ACOR Proudly Presents: “The Landscape of Research in Jordan and in the Arab Region: Challenges, Transformations, Prospects An ACOR online lecture by Dr. Seteney Shami (Arab Council for the Social Sciences)Delivered via Zoom on May 17, 2021 Simultaneous translation into Arabic was provided by Ala Abusharif/Pegasus Events and Conference Preparation. About the Lecture: What are…

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