The main work focused on late antique hospices in the Near East, approached through architectural study and archaeological research. Previously, the phenomenon was abundantly studied through ancient texts and the social history has taken great interest on the topic, highlighting the central role of a new value, the “love of the poor” according to the words of the father of the Church Gregory of Nazianzus, in the rise, the wealth and the establishment of the Christian Church during the 4-6th centuries AD. The texts of the Church Fathers and ancient chroniclers have provided much information on the phenomenon. The first period (2021) mainly focused on research in libraries and through online documentary resources on ancient literature and modern publications as well as on the setting up of a database to list the recorded buildings and information about them regarding their architecture and organisation. During the second period (2022), on the basis of the concrete data she collected during this period, the fellow implemented and conducted archaeological research and survey in the field, in the Near East, and particularly in the vicinity of the ancient Provincia Arabia.
The other two parts of the work concern more recent, modern and contemporary situations related to welfare and charity. The fellow, closely working with a historian of the modern period and a sociologist, observed and analyzed different forms of charity, relief and humanitarian action jointly, in the Near East from Iron Age to present day, as a means of governance and social regulation, referring to these activities as various forms of aid which are undertaken by individual or collective actors to alleviate situations of precarity. They focused on the different modes of actions and of legitimation of these forms of aid and their social and political repercussions. The basic assumption supports the idea that, in the Middle East at different times, assistance has been an instrument of domination, but also of integration of different population categories perceived as likely to disrupt or destabilize the social order. In most cases, these actions entail relations of dependence, subordination or even control and stigma, between the giver/donor and the receiver. Furthermore, the Middle East appeared as a geographical field of study which lends itself particularly well to examine aid patterns and practices for many reasons. Firstly, as the cradle of the three monotheistic religions, it was the place where religious and charitable institutions first appeared. Secondly, the region is a particularly relevant laboratory and field for the observation and analysis of practices over time thanks to the wealth and variety of documents and material traces available. The very broad historical framework aimed to approach the subject with an openness conducive to understanding the evolution of the actors, modes of action and representations underlying these initiatives. The study also stood out for the particular attention it paid to the spatial and material dimension of these practices, which has seldom been explored to date; it is in this context that the architectural and archaeological study specifically conducted by the fellow is the most clearly situated. The hypotheses raised were structured around four cross-cutting themes that address the question of the relationship between the actors of assistance and the authorities, the role of religion and its articulation with secular frames of reference, the regulation of human mobility and the material traces left by these activities. Finally, the programme has been expanded in yet another way, by observing assistance activities issues through direct participation. For this purpose, the fellow took part as a volunteer in the actions of two associations which are involved in providing free food and shelter to people with little or no resources, in Paris - her fellowship host city. What she discovered and particularly struck her and finally made a strong connection between this experience and the HOLYHOST programme is the role of architecture in this context. The study indeed shows how the phenomenon is embedded in the landscape and urbanism and why it is relevant to address it through such a lens; how observing today’s practices for instance can help us understand how buildings were used in ancient periods.
The exploitation and dissemination of the results of the work took different forms: 2 preliminary archaeological and field reports, 1 interview in a journal for a non-specialized public, 3 scientific and peer-reviewed papers, 1 lecture in an international conference, 5 lectures in university seminars and meetings.
