Lecture Series: Dr. Joseph Massad
November 18, 2022
ABOUT THE SPEAKER:
Dr. Joseph Massad is Professor of Modern Arab Politics and Intellectual History at Columbia University. He is the author of several books,dozens of scholarly articles, and hundreds of op-eds. His books include Colonial Effects: The Making of National Identity in Jordan,The Persistence of the Palestinian Question, Desiring Arabs, andIslam in Liberalism. His forthcoming book is tentatively titled TheAge of Independence: A Settler-Colonial History of the World. He isa recipient of a number of research and teaching Awards, includingthe Lionel Trilling Book Award for his book Desiring Arabs, TheScott Nearing Award for Courageous Scholarship, and The Columbia University Faculty Mentoring Award, His works have beentranslated to more than a dozen languages including Arabic, Turkish,Persian, French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, Japanese, Chinese,German, and Indonesian.
Password "QrbVGc@2"
Announcements: Dr. Rami Zurayk appointed as Interim Director of the Palestine Land Studies Center
Dr. Rami Zurayk will assume the responsibilities of Dr. Howayda Al-Harithy as Interim Director of The Palestine Land Studies Center (PLSC) at AUB effective as of September 1, 2022.
Dr. Howayda Al-Harithy, Professor and Chair, Department of Architecture and Design, and Research Director at the Beirut Urban Lab, Maroun Semaan Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, assumed responsibilities as founding director of the PLSC in September 2019. Dr. Al-Harithy is a widely published scholar who has served on numerous committees and championed many projects at AUB. Her current research conceptualizes urban recovery in relation to processes of historical editing, urban trauma, and protracted displacement. During the foundational three years of the PLSC, Dr. Al-Harithy led the development of a strategic plan, the formation of steering and advisory committees, and initiated a graduate assistantship for the center. Under her leadership, the identity of the center was designed, space in West Hall was acquired and renovated, the website was launched, and a substantial portion of the Salman Abu Sitta archive was received and housed within PLSC and the Jafet Library archives. In addition, a lecture series was initiated and scholars hosted, COVID-19 notwithstanding. Dr. Al-Harithy also spearheaded institutional collaborations with Palestinian, regional and international institutions. On January 25, 2021, the PLSC was formally inaugurated with a ceremony and a digitized display of maps and archival evidence that form part of this valuable collection.
Dr. Rami Zurayk is Professor in (and former chairperson of) the Department of Landscape Design and Ecosystem Management at the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences. He currently serves as Director of the Food Security Program as well as Coordinator of the Ecosystem Management Track in the Interfaculty Graduate Environmental Sciences Program. Dr. Zurayk’s research interests center on landscape and agrarian transformation, as well as on political ecology of the Arab world. He has published on food security in Gaza, on ‘Farming Palestine for Freedom” as well as extensively on issues pertaining to land use, food security and sovereignty, sustainable agriculture, and water and food systems during conflict. For two years, he was the lead researcher on a UN-HABITAT program on Land and Conflict in the Arab Region. He is a founding member of the Arab Food Sovereignty Network, which focuses on issues of food sovereignty in the Arab World, and is a contributor to Al Shabaka, the Palestine Policy Network. A long-term activist on Palestinian issues and former advisor of the AUB Palestinian Cultural Club, he has been serving as the co-chair of the PLSC Steering Committee and highly engaged in the center’s activities since its inception.