In this discussion moderated by Khalid Hadeed (Cornell University) and featuring academic discussantHelga Tawil Souri (NYU); Somaya al Sousi and Fatena al Ghorra contextualize their work within the broader landscape of Palestinian literature online, while Adania Shibli (co-editor Narrating Gaza) discusses the way in which such platforms foster literary community and discourse.

Throughout its history, Gaza and its surrounding region has been controlled by external forces. During World War I, Gaza became part of the British mandate of Palestine. Following the 1948 Arab Israeli War, Egypt administered the newly formed Gaza Strip, and in 1967 the Gaza Strip was captured by Israel in the Six-Day War. In 1994, administration of the Gaza Strip was transferred to the Palestinian National Authority. Following the 2011 Egyptian uprisings, Egyptian involvement in the blockade of Gaza ended, potentially marking a new period of increasing mobility and literary production.

9:30 AM Opening Keynote
Rashid Khalidi (Columbia), ‘America and the Arab Revolts’
*Moderated by Bashir Abu-Manneh (Columbia)

11 AM First Panel
Gilbert Achcar (SOAS, London) ‘Roots and Dynamics of Arab Revolt’
Asef Bayat (Illinois) ‘Revolution without Movement, Movement without Revolution-Again’
Mona El Ghobashy (Barnard) ‘The Politics of Counter-Revolt in Egypt’
*Moderated by Marwa El Shakry (Columbia)

2:15 PM Second Panel
Jason Brownlee (Texas) ‘Antecedents of the Tunisian Revolt’
Gershon Shafir (UCSD) ‘Tahrir in Tel-Aviv?’
Lisa Wedeen (Chicago) ‘Ideology in the Political Present: Notes from Syria’
*Moderated by Nadia Abu El-Haj (Columbia)

430 PM Closing Keynote
Khaled Hroub (Cambridge) ‘After the Revolts: The Question of Palestine’
*Moderated by Rashid Khalidi (Columbia)

Professors Katherine Franke, Kendall Thomas, and Vani Natarajan, Humanities and Area Studies Librarian, Barnard College, visited Israel and Palestine in January, 2012 as part of the first LGBTQ delegation to the West Bank.

Come hear them offer a "queer take" on Israel/Palestine. Moderated by Neta Patrick, Human Rights Institute, Columbia Law School.

Sponsored by the Center for Gender & Sexuality Law and cosponsored with the Center for Palestine Studies and the Institute for Research on Women and Gender.

Please join us on 2 April 2012 for our second panel on the state question. This panel of noted legal specialists will examine the aftermath of the Palestinian statehood bid at the United Nations and assess the ongoing needs for democratization and political reform.

PANELISTS

George Bisharat, Professor of Law, UC Hastings. Author of "Palestinian Lawyers and Israeli Rule."

Noura Erakat, Attorney, Adjunct Professor of International Human Rights Law, Georgetown. Co-Editor of Jadaliyya.

Victor Kattan, Lawyer, Program Director, Al-Shabaka. Author of "From Coexistence to Conquest."

Respondent: Ramzi Kassem, Professor of Law, CUNY.

This panel is part of the Center for Palestine Studies's new series on Palestine and Law. The aim of the series is to promote innovative academic thought on legal questions related to Palestine. The issues covered will include the state question, property issues, from possession to dispossession; the sphere of litigation; the legal status of the refugee; and regimes of imprisonment.

A panel discussion following the premiere of Mohammed Fairouz's Symphony No. 3 "Poems and Prayers."

Panelists: Mohammed Fairouz, Jacqueline Rose, Sinan Antoon

Voice, lyricism, tonality, counterpoint, the operatic: literary critics and social theorists often make recourse to the metaphors of musicality. Similarly, musicians often draw upon literature, not merely by writing or incorporating it in the form of lyric, but as theoretical inspiration. A few undertake theoretical labor in and through their music. Such is the case with Mohammed Fairouz. Following on the world premiere of Fairouz's Symphony No. 3: "Poems and Prayers," which weaves together poetic texts from the Arabic, Aramaic and Hebrew, this panel opens up discussion about music and literature to questions of translation and comparative composition, as well as the politics of analogizing language and music.

Displaced at Home gathers a group of Palestinian women scholars who present unflinching critiques of the complexities and challenges inherent in the lives of this understudied but important population. The essays engage topics ranging from internal refugees and historical memory to women's sexuality and the resistant possibilities of hip-hop culture. Unique in the collection is sustained attention to gender concerns, which have tended to be subordinated to questions of nationalism, statehood, and citizenship.
The collection presents on-the-ground examples of the changing political, social, and economic conditions of Palestinians in Israel, and examines how global, national, and local concerns intersect and shape their daily lives.
Sponsored by the Center for Palestine Studies & the Anthropology Department at Columbia University.

RHODA KANAANEH, Anthropology Department, Columbia University
ISIS NUSAIR, Department of Women's Studies, Denison University
LENA MEARI, Ibrahim Abu-Lughod Postdoctoral Fellow, Center for Palestine Studies, Columbia University