Overview
Makaneyyat ('mak') works to strengthen and build perennial agro-ecological landscapes in Palestine. We work to expand agro-biodiversity of landscapes to support communities of plants and people.
Makaneyyat translates roughly to spaces. It is the plural form of makaneyyah or spatiality and comes from the Arabic makan or place. This name reflects our interest in the importance of spatial relationships between landscape, micro-climates, plant life, and communities of producers and consumers.
Taking the landscape as our unit of analysis, our independent research project uses tools such as wild food plant conservation and collection, agroecological analysis, geospatial visualization and GIS, interviews, plant inventories, and study of candidate species for new crop development.
Founded in 2013, the research group has developed the following:
We are currently working on:
Research initiatives
Agroecological Research Engine
We have developed a free and open source research platform for the
generation, management, analysis, and visualization of agro-ecological
data. This research platform provides a historically rich
baseline for future specialized research on and in support of
Palestinian agro-ecologies. The project has resulted in the creation of
our local research program inspired by the growing movement of open
information structures. Deploying cutting-edge tools in field-based,
geospatial, and qualitative research methods, we are developing a model
for collaborative and open research in the region.
Wild Food Plant Conservation and New Crop Development
We
are working to conserve agro-biodiversity, wild food plants, and develop new crops in Palestine. Since 2017, we have built a genebank for the ex-situ and in-situ conservation and
propagation of wild food plants. We are collecting and
regenerating edible wild plants across several sites in Palestine in
collaboration with local partner organizations and the assistance of
global partners. We hope that these plants will provide the basis for
agroecological transformation and development of new grain and cover crop polycultures in
Palestine.
Omar Imseeh Tesdell, Ph.D., Principal Investigator (ORCiD)
Yusra Othman, Researcher
Mary Deeik, Researcher
Yara Dowani, research consultant
Sameer Khraishi, research consultant
Fouad Muaddi, research consultant
Hanan Zahran, research consultant
Saher Alkhoury, research consultant
Our development partners, al-fardthakh in Amman, Jordan, have enabled us to customize an existing open API and build the Makaneyyat agro-ecological engine.
Makaneyyat is generously supported by the Palestinian-American Research Center (PARC).
Landscape Agroecology in Palestine
Makaneyyat ('mak') aims to strengthen
agro-ecological landscapes in Palestine. We work to expand agro-biodiversity of landscapes to support communities of plants and people.
Refereed articles in peer-reviewed journals
Tesdell, Omar, Yusra Othman, Yara Dowani, Samir Khraishi, Saher Alkhoury, Mary Deeik, Aubrey Streit Krug, Brandon Schlautman, David Van Tassel. 2020. Envisioning Perennial Agroecosystems in Palestine. Journal of Arid Environments, Volume 175. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2019.104085
Tesdell, Omar; Othman, Yusra; and Saher Khoury. 2018. Rainfed Agroecosystem Resilience in the Palestinian West Bank, 1918-2017. Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems. https://doi.org/10.1080/21683565.2018.1537324
Other publications
June
2018. Tesdell, Omar Imseeh (Editor), Amna Othman, Yusra Othman, Yara
Dowani, Renad Shqeirat, Yara Bamieh, Elizabeth Tesdell, Saher Khouri. Palestinian
Wild Food Plants. Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center, Ramallah.
Arabic-English. ISBN 978-9950-385-72-6.
Available for download from archive.org on Non-Commercial Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).
Spring 2018. Tesdell, Omar. Planting Roots, Claiming Space. NACLA Report on the Americas, Vol. 50, No. 1, pp. 66-71. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10714839.2018.1448599
Academic Presentations
Birzeit University, Birzeit, August 2019
University of Wisconsin, Madison, July 2019
Lund University, Lund, Sweden, May 2019
University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, February 2019
Brown University, Providence, RI, March 2018
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, MN, August 2017
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, March 2017
A.M. Qattan Foundation, Ramallah, Palestine, May 2016
Spring 2020: As the plants are blooming, we are collecting seeds of wild food plants. Also identifying, cataloguing and collecting specimens.
February 2020: Journal article published by Makaneyyat researchers and colleagues from The Land Institute in the Journal of Arid Environments:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2019.104085
January - February 2020: Makaneyyat team propagated seeds and transplanted seedlings from Makaneyyat's collection.
November - December 2019: The team collected diverse seeds from various wild tree populations in Palestine including;
Crataegus azarolus var. aronia L., Ceratonia siliqua L., Ziziphus jujuba Mill., Pistacia lentiscus L., Pistacia terebinthus L., Quercus coccifera L., Arbutus andrachne L., Quercus infectoria Oliv.
August 2019: Coauthored journal article introducing the work of Makaneyyat is submitted to refereed scientific journal in the U.S.
March-April 2019: The Makaneyyat team conducted fieldwork to identify, catalogue, collect specimens, and collects seeds of wild food plants.
November 2018: The team conducted plant survey in Ein Qiniya-Ramallah.
2018: Makaneyyat's first book was published under the name of "Palestinian Wild Food Plants".
Fall 2018: Video shots capturing the beauty of Palestine during our field work.