The war in Gaza and the accelerating ethnic cleansing of the West Bank are sustained by unwavering US economic, diplomatic, and military support. Within the US, the question of Palestine has consequently become a central, if contested, concern of American Studies. Across the Atlantic, however, the field in the UK has remained largely silent. This symposium seeks to both interrogate the historical, sociological, and political economic roots of American empire through Palestine. By placing Palestine at the very centre of our analysis, we aim to fundamentally reframe how we theorise the history, culture, literature, and political economy of American Empire. Bringing together UK and US-based American Studies scholars working on American empire and Palestine, alongside student activists and trade union organisers, this event will chart a more accountable path forward for the field of UK American studies.
Registration is now open here:
https://www.ticketsource.com/uk-am-studies-4-pal/uk-american-studies-against-the-genocide/e-ovgrxm
9:30-10 Coffee
10-10:15 Introductory comments by organisers
10:15-11:15 Panel 1: Settler Colonial Solidarity: American Empire, Occupied Palestine and Genocide
Chair: Owen Walsh (University of Aberdeen)
Kaitlin Church (University of Glasgow) “Out of Sight, Out of Mind: US Strategic Narratives and Palestinian Erasure”
Richard Saich (LSE) “From Vietnam to Gaza: Academic Activism and US Empire”
John Munro (University of Birmingham) “Driving Genocide”
11:15-12:15 Panel 2: Palestine and American Studies: Addressing Absence and Complicity
Chair: John Narayan (KCL)
Michael Collins (KCL) “What did you go out in the wilderness to see? Settler-colonialism, British American Studies, and Rereading Errand into the Wilderness at 70”
Molly Geidel (Dartmouth College) “Three Arguments and an Antisemitism Complaint: Teaching Palestine, Race, and American in Reactionary Times”
Yasmin Dualeh (Cambridge) “On the Arab-American Anti-Zionist Tradition: Diasporic Intellectual Production in a Hostile Public Sphere”
12:15-1:15 Break: Refreshments and Lunch
1:15-2:15 Panel 3: Cultural Interventions: Art and Palestine Solidarity
Chair: Richard Saich (LSE)
Ellie Armon Azoulay (Durham University) “The Sound of Genocide”
Sara Masry Title TBD
White Kites Title TBD
2:15 – 4:00 Panel 4: Activism In and Outside the Academia
Chair: Myka Tucker-Abramson (Warwick)
Owen Clayton (Lincoln UCU)
Warwick Stands With Palestine
LSE Students for Justice in Palestine
Gargi Bhattacharyya (UCL, Anti-Genocide University)
BLMUK
Shari Plonski (Queen Mary, BRISMES)
4-4:20 refreshment break
4:20-5:20 Panel 5: Palestine on the Syllabus: Collaborative Curriculum Construction
Session Chair: Yasmin Dualeh (Cambridge)
Final wrap up 5-5:30pm
Envisioning our network and setting priorities
The organisers would like to gratefully thank the British Association for American Studies and the University of Warwick’s Department of English & Comparative Literary Studies for their support.
