In Episode 51 of The Enlightenment Podcast, Shamim and Hanan are joined by Vivien Sansour, the Palestinian artist, conservationist, and visionary founder of the Palestine Heirloom Seed Library. Through her groundbreaking work, Vivien is preserving endangered Palestinian seed varieties and ensuring that stories of land, food, and heritage remain alive—one harvest at a time.

Vivien established the Palestine Heirloom Seed Library in Battir in 2014, creating a living repository of seeds at risk of extinction. Beyond conservation, she founded the Traveling Kitchen to reconnect farms and kitchens, bringing food, culture, and community together. Her work has been featured at the V&A in London and the Venice Biennale, and she has held fellowships at Harvard and Bard.

In this episode, Vivien reflects on the intimate relationship between seeds, memory, and resistance, and how the preservation of agriculture is not only cultural heritage but an act of defiance against erasure. By saving Palestinian seeds, she is reclaiming identity, defending land, and refusing the systematic attempts to uproot a people’s existence.

Palestine Heirloom Seed Library:

Website → palestineheirloomseedlibrary.com/ 

The Seed Protector’s Project → palestineheirloomseedlibrary.com/projects/the-seed-protectors 

Vivien Sansour nad PHSL Social Media:

🌱 Palestine Heirloom Seed Library → instagram.com/paliheirloomseedlibrary

🌱 Vivien Sansour Instagram → instagram.com/viviensansour 

Enlightenment Podcast Social Media:

https://feedlinks.link/enlightenmentpodcast 

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