Douroub: Promoting Syrian Intangible Cultural Heritage

The Douroub project seeks to promote Syrian intangible cultural heritage in the lives and future of Syrians and to solidify the ties with the identity of Syrian refugees. Furthermore, it aims to share a part of the Syrian intangible heritage with Arabic speakers wherever they may be.
Douroub aims to reinforce some components of the cultural map as a practical tool of knowledge, as well as utilising artistic approaches to promote the stability of these communities and provide platforms for them to share their stories and collective memory. Moreover, it applies a modern and advanced approach to electronically preserve the Syrian intangible heritage to always have it available in upcoming years for all generations. 

Introduction & Work Approaches

For centuries, Syrian folk heritage has been a bedrock of national and regional heritage and social identity. This umbrella term ‘folk heritage’ encompasses oral traditions, crafts, and other popular cultural expressions founded on traditional knowledge and custom transmitted intergenerationally. The significance of this heritage cannot be understated - Syrian epic poetry, for example, even informed the Homerian epic, itself the basis of European epic literature. Yet today, Syria folk heritages are under severe threat of extinction due to challenges arising from conflict and the climate crisis.
Recent years have seen a swift acceleration of climate crisis, conflict, scarcity, and exodus across Syria having serious implications for the survival of Syrian cultural heritage. Moreover, most heritage in Syria has historically been transmitted intergenerationally through the family: today, families have been shattered by death and displacement, and desperation has driven family members away from traditional jobs, social roles, and activities. 
Against this backdrop, Ettijahat-Independent Culture aims to respond to the need of safeguarding efforts to protect Syrian intangible cultural heritage and to empower and train other heritage sector stakeholders in order that they can do the same. Ettijahat will prioritise the heritages of communities with a focus on ‘minority’ groups categorised by shared ethnicity, religious/spiritual beliefs, sexual orientation, gender, political affiliation, geographical location, or social or economic status.