Speakers Series: Middle East in Historical Context - "The Tragedy of Modern Palestinian History: From Nahda to Nakba," Dr. Ussama Makdisi 

• May 5, 2025, Reception from 5:00-5:30 pm, Scholar Talk and Conversation from 5:30-7:00
• UC Davis International Center

Dr. Ussama Makdisi's talk draws attention to how and why actual Palestinian history and humanity have been consistently denied and removed from view and how and why a different philozionist narrative has been made central to Western liberalism. Illustrating how one narrative of actual Palestinian history has been consistently utterly submerged by another eurocentric narrative that forces Palestinians into the role of being the antisemitic persecutors, the conversation explores: What are the ethical and political consequences of this substitution? Does this substitution explain why advocates or activists for Palestinian humanity so often find themselves voices in a Western liberal wilderness even amidst the first livestreamed genocide of modern history?

Questions: chssp@ucdavis.edu