Nakba in the Age of Catastrophe: Lessons from Palestine

What can Palestine teach us about surviving the conditions of constant and overlapping catastrophe? How do we hold ground on an earth rapidly eroding under the forces of social, economic, political, and environmental crises? Moving beyond paradigms of exceptionalism and the confines of the nation-state reveals Palestine as a key site to explore these questions. Tracing the struggle on and over land, this talk reflects on Palestine’s lessons in the Age of Catastrophe.

Speaker: Sherene Seikaly is Associate Professor of History at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her book Men of Capital: Scarcity and Economy in Mandate Palestine (Stanford University Press, 2016) explores economy, territory, the home, and the body. Her forthcoming book, From Baltimore to Beirut: On the Question of Palestine tells a global history of capital, slavery, and dispossession. She is co-editor of Journal of Palestine Studies and Jadaliyya.