Political Cultures and the Cultures of Politics
March 6-7, 2015
Corporation Room, University Hall
Friday, March 6, 2015
8:30 – 9:00 a.m.
Registration: Corporation Room, University Hall
9:00 – 9:30 a.m. The Promises and Pitfalls of Palestinian Studies
Beshara Doumani, Director, Middle East Studies, Brown University
9:30 – 11:30 a.m. Cultures of Resistance
Discussant: Nadia Hijab, Al-Shabaka; Washington, DC, USA
1. Ala Alazzeh, Birzeit University; West Bank-PALESTINE
“Post-Second Intifada’s Confrontational Politics: The Limits of Framing and the Horizon of Practice”
2. Sharri Plonski, SOAS; London-UK
“Ordinary and Extraordinary – the Struggle for Palestinian Citizen Space Inside Israel”
3. Nell Gabiam, Iowa State University; Ames, IA-USA
“Mapping Palestinian Identity in the Diaspora: Affective Attachments and Political Spaces”
11:30 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.
Coffee Service
11:45 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. Images of Palestine
Discussant: Brinkley Messick, Columbia University; New York, NY-USA
1. Hanan Toukan, Free University; Berlin-GERMANY
“The Paintbrush is Mightier than the M16: On Imaging and Imagining Palestine in the Global Community”
2. Nadia Yaqub, University of North Carolina; Chapel Hill, NC-USA
“Testimony and Encounter in Palestinian Film”
1:00 – 2:30 p.m.
Lunch for hosts and panelists
2:30 – 3:30 p.m. Palestinian Options and Strategic Alternatives
Hani Masri, Director General of Masarat; Ramallah-PALESTINE
3:30 – 3:45 p.m.
Coffee Service
3:45 – 5:30 p.m. Contested Sites
Discussants: Julie Peteet, University of Louisville; Louisville, KY-USA
Rhoda Kanaaneh, Columbia University; New York, NY-USA
1. Dina Omar, Yale University; New Haven, CT-USA
“Razing Rights/Rites of the Dead: Political Subjectivity and Reconfiguring Burial Sites and Practices”
2. Jennifer Kelly, University of Texas at Austin; Austin, TX-USA
“Tourism Under Occupation: Post-Oslo Fragmentation and the Labor of Narration”
3. Ryvka Barnard, New York University; New York, NY-USA
“The Political History of Bethlehem’s Manger Square”
7:00 p.m.
Dinner at Biltmore Hotel for hosts and panelists
Saturday, March 7, 2015
8:30 – 9:00 a.m.
Registration: Corporation Room, University Hall
9:00 – 11:00 a.m. Cultures of Nationalism
Discussant: Amal Amireh, George Mason University; Fairfax, VA-USA
1. Chana Morgenstern, Brown University; Providence, RI-USA
“A Literature for All Its Citizens: Popular Arabic Resistance Literature in 1950s Palestine/ Israel”
2. Toufoul Abou-Hodeib, University of Oslo; Oslo-NORWAY
“The Politics of Palestinian Folklore: Embroidery in the Diaspora”
3. Polly Withers, University of Exeter; Exeter-UK
“I’m not a Palestinian Musician, I’m a musician who happens to be Palestinian: Negotiating Nationalisms in Youth Popular Music in Palestine”
11:00 – 11:15 a.m.
Coffee Service
11:15 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. Protest and Activism by Youth and Women
Discussants: Zachary Lockman, New York University; New York, NY-USA
Ilan Pappé, University of Exeter, Exeter-UK
1. Maha Nassar, University of Arizona; Tucson, AZ-USA
“Boycott and Solidarity at the 1968 World Youth Festival”
2. Areej Sabbagh-Khoury, Mada al-Carmel, The Arab Center for Applied Social Research – Haifa
“The Zionist Left, Settler-Colonial practices and the Nakba in Marj Ibn ‘Amer, 1936-1956”
1:00 – 2:30 p.m.
Lunch for hosts and panelists
2:30 – 3:30 p.m. Palestine: The International Dimensions
Hanan Ashrawi, Legislator, Activist, and Scholar; Ramallah-PALESTINE
3:30 – 3:45 p.m.
Coffee Service
3:45 – 5:30 p.m. Solidarities
Discussant: Nadim Rouhana, The Fletcher School, Tufts University, Medford, MA-USA
1. Amahl Bishara, Tufts University; Medford, MA-USA
“Gaza Protests and the Politics of Fracture Across the Green Line: Protesting Together, Apart”
2. Gabriel Varghese, University of Exeter; Exeter-UK
“Acting on the Pain of others: International Solidarity and Theatre Making in the West Bank”
3. Rania Jawad, Birzeit University; West Bank-PALESTINE
“Theatre in Palestine and its Other Documents”
5:30 – 6:15 p.m. Wrap Up and Next Steps
Beshara Doumani, Director, Middle East Studies, Brown University