Public discourse about Arabic diglossia has been on the rise as of late, especially as a vindication of colonial praxis when it comes to Palestinian communities in Israel. What this discourse often ignores is the context of Arabic learners, and the need to decolonize Eurocentric frameworks in linguistic research.
Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahme’s “If only this mountain between us could be ground to dust” is the artists’ first exhibition in a major US museum, and the first Palestinian exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago. “It is hard to put in words what we experienced while being there and how powerfully Palestinian voices were being amplified and empowered,” writes Malak Shalabi.
Given that there were so many important BDS fights in 2021, here are some products you probably won’t be interested in this holiday season, and the activists you can thank for it.
Mohammad Sabaaneh’s new book of linocuts uses the conceit of a bird conversing with a prisoner to get out the word on Palestinian conditions. “You bring the pencil, and I will bring the stories,” the bird tells the writer.
Three Palestinian young people share the tremendous challenges they face due to the Israeli occupation.
Palestinian filmmaker Ahmed Mansour’s new film, “Angel of Gaza,” tells the story of a Gazan family’s experience with war, separation, and diaspora through a focus on the family’s young daughter. Nadia Yaqub writes that the film raises troubling political questions about the steadfastness which for decades has been a cornerstone of Palestinian resistance. What does it mean for the Palestinian struggle that families like Malak’s must leave Palestine to survive?
The COVID-19 pandemic devastated the Palestinian handicraft industry by cutting off tourism. In the face of this hardship some artisans have managed to stay afloat due in part to one relentless Ramallah-based marketplace: Handmade Palestine.
As the current disastrous phase of Anglo-American colonialism sinks even deeper into chaos and anarchy, causing untold suffering in the Arab and Muslim worlds and elsewhere, thoughtful reflection and careful analysis become more urgently needed. Heeding Edward Said’s call, Haider Eid uses literature to “de-orientalize the orient” in Gaza.
Palestinian American poet George Abraham talks with Mohammed El-Kurd in an expansive interview about Jerusalem, the revolutionary potential of poetry, and El-Kurd’s groundbreaking new book, Rifqa.
“Facing Gaza,” by artist-scholar Robert Hardwick Weston is a collection of montages of images posted on social media, juxtaposing destruction in Gaza during the 2014 war between Israel and Hamas, and life in Israel.