On Palestinian Literature: past, present, and future
As Palestinians continue to contend with the Israeli military’s destruction of hospitals, libraries, universities, and archives, writers around the world are noting the global implications of their struggle.
Poet Fady Joudah writes, “When will you begin to truly listen to what Palestinians have been saying for decades?”
In these circumstances, the long and complex tradition of Palestinian literature reminds us that acts of literary imagination are inseparable from the politics of land.
In the first event of Beyond Discipline, scholars Eman Ghanayem and Layla Azmi Goushey will discuss the richness of the Palestinian literary tradition. They will be joined in conversation by Safa Khatib, doctoral candidate in the Comparative Literature Track for International Writers.
Dr. Eman Ghanayem is a postdoctoral fellow of Indigenous studies at Washington University in St. Louis. Her work examines questions of displacement, settlement, and belonging in Palestine and Indigenous North America through a framework of interconnected settler colonialisms and comparative Indigeneities. Outside her academic work, she is a member of the Palestinian Feminist Collective and is active in community work that services social justice and decolonization as a global movement.
Dr. Layla Azmi Goushey serves as a Professor of English at St. Louis Community College, where she specializes in World Literature and History, with a focus on Arab-American culture. Her research examines the teaching perspectives of faculty members at Arab universities. Her heritage is Palestinian-American. She holds the position of Secretary at the Arab American Studies Association and serves as the Editor of Baladi Magazine. Her non-fiction and creative works have been featured in several journals.
Conversation moderated by Safa Khatib.
Tuesday, April 9th, 2024
6 :00– 7:30 pm
Kuehner Court, Weil Hall, Washington University
Dinner / Iftar and non-alcoholic beverages will be served
Parking: Attendees may park in the East End Garage (parking is free after 5pm)
Please RSVP by email (safa@wustl.edu)
Beyond Discipline is a talk series in which scholars, artists, and writers convene to discuss the relationships between their work and urgent public issues.
This event is sponsored by the Center for the Humanities, the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, and the Department of Comparative Literature