This presentation focuses on the political potential of contemporary Palestinian transnational youth activism in Europe and USA.  It compares student political engagement namely by examining the formation and development of the General Union of Palestinian Students (GUPS) during what is regarded as the “golden age” of the Palestinian revolution (1960s-1970s) with contemporary initiatives, efforts and strategies of mobilization amongst Palestinian youth in shatat (Diaspora). By looking to the past through a historical continuum that has molded present-day Palestinian youth activism, I propose that new futures can only be made through methodologies that tether together time and space.

About the Speaker

Mjriam Abu Samra is a Marie Curie Post-Doc Fellow at the department of Anthropology at UC Davis with ties to the program in Middle East/South Asian Studies through the cooperation with her host institution University of Venice Ca Foscari in Italy.

Mjriam received her Ph.D. from the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Oxford, UK and her MA in Middle East Politics from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), UK. Her research focuses on Palestinian transnational student and youth politics and Third World solidarities. Her work intervenes in the critical study of refugees, colonialisms, social movements and it is grounded on critical theories on subalternity and decolonization. As a MSC Postdoctoral Fellow Mjriam will be exploring the political potential of contemporary Palestinian transnational youth activism in the United States and Europe through an historical comparative lens.

Before joining UC Davis, Mjriam was based in Amman, Jordan, where she worked as gender expert for the Center of Strategic Studies at the University of Jordan and as Senior researcher and coordinator at the Al Nahda research center. She taught courses on international politics, developments, and history of colonialism at the University of Jordan and American education abroad programs in Amman.

This talk is presented by the Center for Racial Justice (CRJ) at UC Santa Cruz and co-sponsored by Feminist Studies, Critical Race and Ethnic Studies Department, Students for Justice in Palestine, Faculty for Justice in Palestine, Center for South Asian Studies (CSAS), Center for the Middle East and North Africa (CMENA), Anthropology Department, Sociology Department, Politics Department, Center for Cultural Studies, and People’s University.

It is the first talk in a year-long speaker series, “Possibilities of Palestinian Refusal: Against Disciplining Knowledge and Movement.” For more information , please visit the CRJ website: https://crjucsc.com/