Serene Husseini Shahid (, French: Sirine Husseini Shahid; 1920–2008) was a teacher, writer, and scholar of

Palestinian embroidery Palestinian traditional clothing are the types of clothing historically and sometimes still presently worn by Palestinians. Foreign travelers to Palestine in the 19th and early 20th centuries often commented on the rich variety of the costumes wo ...

Family and education

Shahid was born in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

as a member of the influential

Husayni Husayni ( also spelled Husseini) is the name of a prominent Palestinian Arab clan formerly based in Jerusalem, which claims descent from Husayn ibn Ali (the son of Ali). The Husaynis follow the Hanafi school of Sunni Islam, in contrast to t ...

family. Her father was

Jamal al-Husayni Jamal al-Husayni (; 1894–1982), was born in Jerusalem and was a member of the Husayni family. Husayni served as Secretary to the Executive Committee of the Palestine Arab Congress (1921–1934) and to the Muslim Supreme Council. He was co-f ...

(himself a second cousin of the then Grand Mufti of Jerusalem

Amin al-Husseini Mohammed Amin al-Husseini (; 4 July 1974) was a Palestinian Arab nationalist and Muslim leader in Mandatory Palestine. was the scion of the family of Jerusalemite Arab nobles, who trace their origins to the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Hussein ...

), her maternal grandfather was

Mayor of Jerusalem The Mayor of the City of Jerusalem is head of the executive branch of the political system in Jerusalem. The mayor's office administers all city services, public property, most public agencies, and enforces all city and state laws within Jerusal ...

Faidi al-Alami Faidi/Fidi/Fedi/Faydi Effendi el/al-'Alami (1865 or 1881 – 1924'; Arabic: فيضي العلمي) was Mayor of Jerusalem from 1906 to 1909. Among his legacies was having helped improve the city and expand municipal services leading to an inc ...

, and her maternal uncle was

Musa al-Alami Musa Alami (3 May 1897 – 8 June 1984) , ) was a prominent Palestinian nationalist and politician. Due to Alami having represented Palestine at various Arab conferences, in the 1940s, he was viewed by many as the leader of the Palestinian Ar ...

. She was educated at the

Ramallah Friends School The Ramallah Friends School () is a private school in West Bank, Palestine with campuses in the twin cities of Ramallah and al-Bireh. The Friends Girls' School was inaugurated in 1869; the construction of the Friends Boys' School began in 1901 and ...

Ramallah Ramallah ( , ; ) is a Palestinians, Palestinian city in the central West Bank, that serves as the administrative capital of the State of Palestine. It is situated on the Judaean Mountains, north of Jerusalem, at an average elevation of abov ...

, later at the

American University of Beirut The American University of Beirut (AUB; ) is a private, non-sectarian, and independent university chartered in New York with its main campus in Beirut, Lebanon. AUB is governed by a private, autonomous board of trustees and offers programs le ...

. She married

Munib Shahid Munib Jalal Shahid (; 1908–1973) was Chairman of Hematology and Oncology at the Faculty of Medicine of the American University of Beirut. He built the hematology laboratory at the Faculty of Medicine, a development that increased research outpu ...

, son of a noble family of Baháʼí lineage, in 1944 and they settled down in Beirut. Her daughter

Leila Shahid Leila Shahid (; born in Beirut in 1949) is a Palestinian diplomat. She was the first woman ambassador of Palestine, serving the PLO in Ireland in 1989, in The Netherlands in 1990, then serving the PA in France where she had taken office in Paris ...

was Palestinian envoy to

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

. Her other two daughters, Maya and Zeina, designed and promoted Palestinian Embroideries for Inaash.

Career

After 1967 she became involved in starting "cottage industries" among the Palestinian refugees. She worked on embroidery projects for Palestinian women, conducting embroidery workshops on weekdays. She, together with

Huguette Caland Huguette Caland (; née El Khoury; 19 January 1931 – 23 September 2019) was a Lebanese painter, sculptor and fashion designer known for her erotic abstract paintings and body landscapes. Based out of Los Angeles, her art was displayed in numer ...

, helped found the Association for the Development of Palestinian Camps, a.k.a. "Inaash" (founded 1969) in Lebanon, an association devoted to preserving Traditional Palestinian Embroidery and helping women and children in

Palestinian Refugee Camps Palestinian refugee camps were first established to accommodate Palestinians who were displaced by the 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight during the 1948 Palestine war. Camps were established by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency ( ...

in Lebanon. At the same time she wrote about

Palestinian costumes Palestinian traditional clothing are the types of clothing historically and sometimes still presently worn by Palestinians. Foreign travelers to Palestine in the 19th and early 20th centuries often commented on the rich variety of the costumes wo ...

and embroidery and helped arrange exhibitions, including one in the

Museum of Mankind Ethnography at the British Museum describes how ethnography has developed at the British Museum. Within the Department of Natural History and Curiosities The ethnographical collection was originally linked to the Department of Natural History an ...

in the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

in 1991. She also donated items to th
Palestine Costume Archive
Her autobiography, ''Jerusalem Memories'', was published in 2000, and was described by Malu Halasa as having "broke with tradition". It has been translated into several languages.

Bibliography

*Weir, Shelagh and Shahid, Serene: ''Palestinian embroidery : cross-stitch patterns from the traditional costumes of the village women of Palestine''. London:

publications, c1988. *Shahid, Serene Hussein (Editor:

Jean Said Makdisi Jean Said Makdisi (; born 1940) is a Palestinian writer and independent scholar, best known for her autobiographical writing. Life Jean Said Makdisi was born in Jerusalem, British Mandate Palestine, to a notable academic Palestinian family. The y ...

), (Introduction -

Edward W. Said Edward Wadie Said (1 November 1935 – 24 September 2003) was a Palestinian-American academic, literary critic, and political activist. As a professor of literature at Columbia University, he was among the founders of post-colonial studies.R ...

):
Jerusalem Memories
', Naufal,

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

, 2000. First Edition.
Jerusalem Passages
(excerpts from Jerusalem Memories), Spring 2000, Issue 8,

Jerusalem Quarterly The Institute for Palestine Studies (IPS) is the oldest independent nonprofit public service research institute in the Arab world. It was established and incorporated in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1963 and has since served as a model for other such inst ...

References

1920 births 2008 deaths Writers from Jerusalem Palestinian clothing 20th-century Palestinian women writers Al-Husayni family Palestinian non-fiction writers 20th-century Palestinian writers Embroiderers {{Palestine-writer-stub

Family and education

Career

Bibliography

See also

References