Gaza in Geography
Teach-In Session 04 - November 2, 2023
TEACHING RESOURCES
In this teach-in we consider Gaza, Palestine, and the occupation in terms of geography, space, demography, and boundaries. The kinds of boundaries that were established through colonial decision making processes in the early 20th century still shape the current situation in the area. We will explore Gaza's geography and history as a hub of trade and agriculture before 1948 and how this all changed after 1948. The relationships and dynamics between land, people, and political-economy is central to understanding the current moment.
Nour Joudah is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Asian American Studies at UCLA. She holds a PhD in Geography and her dissertation, Mapping Decolonized Futures: Indigenous Visions for Hawaii and Palestine, highlights the efforts by Palestinian and native Hawaiian communities to use indigenous counter-mapping as a cartographic and decolonial praxis to imagine and work toward liberated futures.
Jehad Abu Salim is Executive Director of the Jerusalem Fund and Palestine Center in Washington D.C. He is completing his PhD in the History and Hebrew and Judaic Studies joint program at New York University. His main area of research is Palestinian and Arab perceptions of the Zionist project and the Jewish question before 1948. Jehad recently edited the book Light in Gaza: Writings Born of Fire, published by Haymarket Books in 2022.
Bassam Haddad (Moderator) is Founding Director of the Middle East and Islamic Studies Program and Associate Professor at the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University. He is the author of Business Networks in Syria: The Political Economy of Authoritarian Resilience (Stanford University Press, 2011) and co-editor of A Critical Political Economy of the Middle East (Stanford University Press, 2021). Bassam is Co-Founder/Editor of Jadaliyya Ezine and Executive Director of the Arab Studies Institute. He serves as Founding Editor of the Arab Studies Journal and the Knowledge Production Project. He is co-producer/director of the award-winning documentary film, About Baghdad, and director of the acclaimed series Arabs and Terrorism. Bassam serves on the Board of the Arab Council for the Social Sciences and is Executive Producer of Status Audio Magazine and Director of the Middle East Studies Pedagogy Initiative (MESPI). He received MESA's Jere L. Bacharach Service Award in 2017 for his service to the profession. Currently, Bassam is working on his second Syria book titled Understanding the Syrian Calamity: Regime, Opposition, Outsiders (forthcoming, Stanford University Press).
Jehad Abu Salim is Executive Director of the Jerusalem Fund and Palestine Center in Washington D.C. He is completing his PhD in the History and Hebrew and Judaic Studies joint program at New York University. His main area of research is Palestinian and Arab perceptions of the Zionist project and the Jewish question before 1948. Jehad recently edited the book Light in Gaza: Writings Born of Fire, published by Haymarket Books in 2022.
Bassam Haddad (Moderator) is Founding Director of the Middle East and Islamic Studies Program and Associate Professor at the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University. He is the author of Business Networks in Syria: The Political Economy of Authoritarian Resilience (Stanford University Press, 2011) and co-editor of A Critical Political Economy of the Middle East (Stanford University Press, 2021). Bassam is Co-Founder/Editor of Jadaliyya Ezine and Executive Director of the Arab Studies Institute. He serves as Founding Editor of the Arab Studies Journal and the Knowledge Production Project. He is co-producer/director of the award-winning documentary film, About Baghdad, and director of the acclaimed series Arabs and Terrorism. Bassam serves on the Board of the Arab Council for the Social Sciences and is Executive Producer of Status Audio Magazine and Director of the Middle East Studies Pedagogy Initiative (MESPI). He received MESA's Jere L. Bacharach Service Award in 2017 for his service to the profession. Currently, Bassam is working on his second Syria book titled Understanding the Syrian Calamity: Regime, Opposition, Outsiders (forthcoming, Stanford University Press).
- Teach-In: Know Your Rights: The Assault on Campus Activism
- For more teach-ins on Palestine: Gaza in Context Teach-Ins
FULL TEACH IN
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CONTENTS
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"The Gaza Strip in its current shape and form was meant to be a temporary refuge and not a place where people are supposed to dwell for eternity in these conditions." - Jehad Abu Salim
TEACHING GUIDE
This teach-in contextualizes the geography of Gaza historically as the once largest district in Palestine to its present day as a besieged Strip. Holding significantly less geographic familiarity than the West Bank with the larger public, we also break down the significance of the current evacuation line at Wadi Gaza, what the current displacements will mean for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip moving forward, and how the ongoing ground invasion is evolving.
- How can we describe the geography of Gaza before 1948? What was its relationship to trade and agriculture? What kinds of social activities regularly occurred there?
- How did 1948 and the Nakba produce territorial and spacial rupture in Gaza? How is the Nakba still present in Gaza in terms of the economy, geography, and politics of the territory? What kinds of social transformations occurred during that moment?
- What kind of effects might the levels of destruction and death inflicted by Israel have on Gaza moving forward? What does the decimation of infrastructure, housing, schools, universities, mosques, churches, mean for the future inhabitation of Gaza?
- How does the permanence of what was supposed to be temporary refugee camps shape the lives of Palestinians living in Gaza and in those camps specifically?
- Decolonial Mapping Project: Students research and create alternative maps of historic Palestine that challenge colonial cartography. These maps should depict Palestinian villages, towns, and communities that were erased or renamed after the Nakba due to the creation of Israeli settlements or other means of erasure.
- Intergenerational Trauma Study: Students explore the concept of intergenerational trauma in the context of Palestine, focusing on how ongoing Israeli occupation and violence affects multiple generations of children with emphasis on historical events such as the Nakba as well as smaller-scale instances of violence and the subsequent impact they continue to have from generation to generation. They may propose a theoretical model illustrating potential transmission mechanisms and intervention points and refer to memoirs, interviews, and existing studies.
- Oral History Archive: Students may research second-hand/recorded interviews with Palestinian elders, refugees, or community members that record first-hand accounts of displacement, resistance, collective memory, and life under occupation. These oral histories can be compiled into a digital archive or exhibition to counter erasure and preserve counter-narratives to colonial narratives highlighted in the teach-in.
SEGMENTS
1. Nour Joudah's IntroductionNour Joudah introduces the teach-in
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2. Gaza Before 1948Jehad talks about Gaza before it was the Gaza "Strip"
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3. On the NakbaNour talks about the Nakba, the history of refugee arrival to the southern Gaza district, and the resulting social transformation
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4. Post Nakba History/1950sJehad talks about how Gaza became the "Gaza Strip" as we know it today and the significance of the 1950 armistice/demarcation line
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5. Intro to Geography of GazaNour talks about how collective memory developed alongside the growth of the refugee camps in Gaza following the Israeli occupation of 1956/1957
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6. Key Places & SitesJehad shares important information about key places and sites in Gaza
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7. Since October 7thOur guests speak about the situation in Gaza since 7 October 2023
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Q1. How can we view Gaza's future through the lens of geography?Our guests respond to a question
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Q2. How does Gaza fit into Nour's work of imagining spaces of return?Our guests respond to a question
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Q3. Jehad's commentary on most recent events and his family in Gaza
Our guests respond to a question
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SOUNDBITES
Jehad on the Future of Gaza in Geography |
Jehad on the Social Repercussions of the War on Gaza |
Nour on the Formation of Collective Memory in Refugee Camps |
