The Sufra Archive أرشيف سفرة

A Deeper Look into using Social Media to begin your Archival Research!

Curator of the Sufra Archive أرشيف سفرة, Salma Serry, describes the digital repository as a space dedicated to Southwest Asians and North Africans (SWANA)’s food history, consisting of more than 2500 items.

At the moment, the archive is “soft-launching their website in its first phase, which includes more than 200 items.” Hence, this section of this module will discuss Serry’s use of accessible platforms such as the @sufra_archive Instagram; to host a collection of archival, culinary ephemera for all to learn from.

According to Serry’s interview with the Association for the Study of Food and the Society, the use of “social media comes [with] accessibility and a wider reach for research. Reaching a wider audience than academics, and engaging them in a two way conversation is really great as I get to learn from others, share backgrounds and stories.” Contrary to traditional archives’ need for researchers to book appointments— or otherwise, have researcher status at various institutions— Serry’s abundant resource proves archives can be made publicly available.

This level of accessibility suggests that various students can develop greater understanding of marginalized stories, curated by those who further identify with the researched background.