Elevating Underrepresented Narratives Through The Watch

The 2022 World Monuments Watch

Nominations are now open for the 2022 World Monuments Watch, World Monuments Fund (WMF)'s biennial program that draws on the potential of cultural heritage preservation to respond to today’s pressing global issues.

In the coming weeks, we’ll spotlight past Watch sites that engage with priority themes for the 2022 Watch: underrepresented heritage, climate change, and imbalanced tourism.

Today, we invite you to explore three projects focused on underrepresented heritage that promote social equity and justice. These 2018 Watch sites demonstrate how advocacy through the Watch for the preservation of lesser-known stories and historic places can make a difference.

Do you know a heritage place that can amplify an underrepresented voice or help tell an important story? Nominate a site to the 2022 World Monuments Watch.

Submissions are due by March 1, 2021.

Alabama Civil Rights Sites

Alabama Civil Rights Sites were nominated to the 2018 Watch by the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute (BCRI), a museum, place of research, and teaching facility dedicated to teaching each generation about civil and human rights. 

Through the Watch, WMF helped bring awareness to local efforts to document and preserve the significant places that played a role in the civil rights movement in Alabama. These sites are essential to telling the stories of America’s diversity and the struggle for justice and social change. 

Lifta 

The traditional Palestinian village of Lifta was populated from ancient times until the eviction of its residents between 1947 and 1948. For a decade, redevelopment plans have threatened to replace the historic site with luxury housing and retail.

In 2018, Lifta was nominated by the Campus-Community Partnership of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, established to promote the mutual commitment of institutions of higher education, students, and the community to advance social justice and human rights in Israeli society.

After Lifta's selection, WMF worked with advocates calling for the village's preservation as a place of memory for the benefit of all citizens of Jerusalem.

The Jewish Quarter of Essaouira

The Jewish Quarter of Essaouira was the heart of a large Jewish community for centuries. But after much of the community’s relocation, this symbol of Morocco’s cultural plurality was nearly forgotten.

Nominated by a master's student at the Brandenburg University of Technology in Germany, the site was included on the 2018 Watch.

Through the Watch, WMF supported work to record its history, revive its memory and contribute to an intercultural dialogue to fight intolerance.

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