20 years of storytelling

sharq.org is an ever-evolving series of story-centred social impact initiatives implemented across the Arabic speaking region and Europe.…
Sharq: our approach

why we document stories

AUG 2021 - being able to share stories of lived experiences gives storytellers a sense of ownership and control and can be very empowering. it also promotes self-reflection and critical thinking.

Vocabulary of Values

a multi-disciplinary exploration of community through a values based lens, beyond the confines of traditional identity markers. (2025-ongoing)

Tarikhi story archive

Tarikhi (Arabic for ‘my history’) is an Arab/ic oral history archive. it houses 500 interviews conducted, recorded, and documented by sharq.org between 2012 and 2022, at a time when previously censored and silenced voices found strength through collective action and forged microphones from new opportunities to be heard. (2012-ongoing)

Liminal

people who are displaced live in liminal spaces. Liminal is an attempt to respond to questions about changing futures and identity in diverse creative ways. we begin with Syria. (2025-ongoing)

religious identity, activism and conversion

an oral history training programme delivered in Arabic to civil society actors who where then mentored in the production of story collections on topics related to religious identity. (2021-22)

conflict, migration and identity

a collection of 60 interviews with Syrians who remained in Syria during the years of turmoil and intense government oppression following the 2011 revolution and those who migrated to Europe asked to reflect on the impact of conflict and migration on identity and to explore the impact of their changing identity on belonging, integration, community and engagement. (2021)

Stories of Belonging

this collection of over fifty audio recorded stories told by Syrian (and some Iraqi) migrants in Europe sheds light on the experiences and factors that help nurture belonging among individuals displaced from their homeland. (2020)

peaceful coexistence in the diaspora

this oral history collection includes over 50 interviews with established residents and Syrian migrants in six different countries and was produced to support an exploration of the factors that impact integration and peaceful coexistence. (2019)