Date/Time
Date(s) - 04/23/2026
5:30 pm - 7:00 pm

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Location
Fisher bennett hall, FBH 401

Categories

Cost:
Free USD
Contact Person:

Email:
mec-info@sas.upenn.edu
Website:
https://mec.sas.upenn.edu/events/2026/04/23/sersal-project-digital-preservation-resistance-after-yezidi-genocide
Phone:
215-898-6335
Organization:
University of Pennsylvania Middle East Center

PHILADELPHIA, PA

After a genocidal campaign targeted Yezidi culture, the Sersal Project is digitally preserving what was nearly lost. By safeguarding family photos, recovering historical images from around the world, and documenting contemporary Yezidi life, this initiative is helping the community rebuild memory, identity, and hope.

Bios:
Marc Marín Webb is a Ph.D. candidate in History and Archaeology in the Department of Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures at the University of Pennsylvania. His research interests include post-conflict heritage preservation in the MENA region, the architecture and urbanism of Early Mesopotamia, and the modern reception of ancient Near Eastern art. Before joining Penn, Marc trained as an architect in Barcelona and Berlin and contributed to the curation, research, and design of museum exhibitions in Europe and the United States. He has participated in archaeological and heritage preservation projects in Syria, Iraq, and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. His doctoral dissertation examines the role of heritage preservation in post-conflict reconstruction in Iraq, focusing on the built heritage of the Yezidi community in former IS territories in Ninewa Governorate.

Nathaniel Brunt is an interdisciplinary scholar and documentary photographer whose work examines how armed conflict is represented through visual culture. He holds a PhD in Communication and Culture from Toronto Metropolitan University and York University, supported by the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. He is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Victoria Libraries and the Centre for Global Studies, and a Hannah Arendt Fellow at TIB Hannover. His internationally exhibited and published interdisciplinary work focuses on photography, archives, and the visual histories of conflict and mass violence in Kashmir and Iraq.

https://mec.sas.upenn.edu/events/2026/04/23/sersal-project-digital-preservation-resistance-after-yezidi-genocide