A hazine or a khazina خزينة is a repository. It is where you put things. Thus, Hazine is an online resource that seeks to function as a repository of writing on repositories. It was started by two Ottoman historians, Nir Shafir and Chris Markiewicz, to provide archives and library guides for researchers working on the Middle East, North Africa, and Islamicate societies.
Recognizing that research can be opaque and that the research process itself is often self-taught, Hazine was meant to help acquaint researchers, especially those stepping into the field for the first time, with archives and how to navigate them. Heather Hughes was brought onto the team in 2016 to provide a librarian perspective. Heather invited N.A. Mansour to join the team in 2018. Since ‘relaunching’ in 2018, Hazine has continued to provide the research community with archive reviews, but Hughes and Mansour have since reworked the website to be more broadly inclusive of cultural heritage workers and highlight their contributions to research, while also featuring research techniques that address some of the unique challenges to Islamic and Middle East Studies research. They hope to continue to build the site both as a resource and as an inclusive space where conversations can happen about the research process from all angles.
We currently run archive reviews, interviews, long-form essays, and resource guides; we are open to all forms of writing on diverse topics. Our guidelines for submission can be seen here, but they are only a rough guide meant namely for archive reviews . Hazine also seeks to make academic research legible to those who might not be doing academic work. We currently do not feature such work but are currently trying to create material that performs that role. DM us on Twitter, message us on Facebook or email us (hazineblog@gmail.com) to get the conversation going.