# Collective Memory and Narrative Cohesion: A Computational Study of Palestinian Refugee Oral Histories in Lebanon

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.13682 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.13682/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 6 of its 83 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 23 Jan 2025.

## Builds on (most cited first, 6 of 6)

- [Robust Speech Recognition via Large-Scale Weak Supervision](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.04356/) (2022)
- [One Embedder, Any Task: Instruction-Finetuned Text Embeddings](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.09741/) (2022)
- [The Interplay of Variant, Size, and Task Type in Arabic Pre-trained Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.06678/) (2021)
- [Crafting Interpretable Embeddings by Asking LLMs Questions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.16714/) (2024)
- [Archives and AI: An Overview of Current Debates and Future Perspectives](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2105.01117/) (2021)
- [FaNS: a Facet-based Narrative Similarity Metric](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.04823/) (2023)

## Abstract (arXiv)

This study uses the Palestinian Oral History Archive (POHA) to investigate how Palestinian refugee groups in Lebanon sustain a cohesive collective memory of the Nakba through shared narratives. Grounded in Halbwachs' theory of group memory, we employ statistical analysis of pairwise similarity of narratives, focusing on the influence of shared gender and location. We use textual representation and semantic embeddings of narratives to represent the interviews themselves. Our analysis demonstrates that shared origin is a powerful determinant of narrative similarity across thematic keywords, landmarks, and significant figures, as well as in semantic embeddings of the narratives. Meanwhile, shared residence fosters cohesion, with its impact significantly amplified when paired with shared origin. Additionally, women's narratives exhibit heightened thematic cohesion, particularly in recounting experiences of the British occupation, underscoring the gendered dimensions of memory formation. This research deepens the understanding of collective memory in diasporic settings, emphasizing the critical role of oral histories in safeguarding Palestinian identity and resisting erasure.