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It is exactly what I envision the future of Palestine to be, which is taking our tradition and our history and our past, but not going back to it or being stuck in it. It’s taking it and creating something absolutely new and visionary. It’s Palestinian futurism. —Dr. Noura Erakat
Join us for the Phoenix of Gaza VR Exhibit + Symposium, connecting everyday acts of resistance with longer term world-building and freedom dreaming. The exhibit was first conceived by Naim Aburaddi, who is from Gaza and whose family has survived the genocide. Naim was not able to travel to Gaza for six years and so partnering with Dr. Ahlam Muhtaseb and the team of the x-Real Lab of California State University San Bernardino, this project transports Gaza with its multiplicity beyond the blockade and into the world through immersive technologies. The team was able to amplify important voices from Gaza including many artists whose work is included in the exhibit. In this way, the project continues as a cultural archive and historical preservation, which would not be possible without the creativity, resilience, and sacrifice of the project’s former photographer/videographer, who lost his father in the latest genocide, and the current photographer/videographer, who is risking his life to capture the aftermath in northern Gaza. As part of the longer term struggle for Palestinian liberation, this project invites us to bear witness to a liberated Gaza in virtual spaces.
Thursday December 5, Doors open at 4pm. *arrive early for hot tea + good seats.
Program 4:30 - 7:30pm
• Introduction by Ahlam Muhtaseb + Naim Aburaddi
• Poetic Address by Mosab Abu Toha
• Keynote by Noura Erakat
• Roundtable with Naim Aburaddi, Heba Gowayed, Mahdi Sabbagh, and Sireen Sawalha
• Dinner + Book-signing from 7:30 - 8:30pm
Friday December 6, Doors open at 4pm. *arrive early for hot tea + good seats.
Program 4:30 - 7:30pm
• Introduction by Ahlam Muhtaseb + Naim Aburaddi
• Poetic Address by Mosab Abu Toha
• Keynote by Sohail Dahdal
• Roundtable with Ahlam Muhtaseb, Laleh Khalili, Maya Mikdashi, and Areej Hamouda
• Dinner + Book-signing from 7:30 - 8:30pm
Symposium registrants will receive instructions for signing up to visit the VR exhibit, which includes hundreds of videos and images using a 360-degree camera which takes footage of daily activities in Gaza. The vast majority of the locations captured are historical places in the Gaza Strip before they were destroyed. This includes images and videos of historical monuments, cultural sites, public squares, universities, schools, cafes, streets, agricultural areas, parks, beaches, markets, and amusement places. This is in addition to capturing Palestinian culture through weddings, stitching workshops, dabke, palm harvesting, clay and pottery making, and other hand-made professions. For more info: https://www.gazaxr.com
Statement on Trauma Reactions:
• The VR exhibit highlights themes of rebuilding and resilience, but it may evoke trauma reactions, particularly grief and loss, in those with a personal connection to the spaces shown. Some reactions may be delayed, with emotional impacts lingering for days afterward. We encourage individuals to access on-campus and off-campus resources for support as needed.Support Services Description:
• Dr. Shirin Zarqa-Lederman, founder of The Diaspora Psychologist, is an international psychologist specializing in trauma-informed individual and community care for marginalized communities. Dr. Zarqa-Lederman will offer one-on-one support from 12-2pm and lead a group processing circle from 3-4pm to help individuals process their experiences with the exhibit.
Check back soon for additional info about teach-ins + artistic performances.
Co-sponsored by Department of African American Studies, Center for Digital Humanities, Ida B. Wells JUST Data Lab, Palestinian Studies Colloquium, Program in Media & Modernity, Princeton Humanities Council, Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies, Students for Justice in Palestine, Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination, and University Center for Human Values.
We endeavor to provide reasonable accommodations for attendees with special needs. If you require an accommodation or service to participate, please contact Ruha Benjamin at ruha@princeton.edu at least 7 business days prior to the event.
*Art by Imad Abu Shtayyah + Delali Agawu
Phoenix of Gaza Dec 5 - 6, 2024
DAY TWO BIOS, in order of appearance:
:: SOHAIL BAGHERI is a New York-based oudist who studied at Bait Al Oud in Abu Dhabi and trained under the renowned Ara Dinkjian. He performs with Dīvān, a traditional Persian musical group in Brooklyn, and draws inspiration from Gulf, Levantine, and Persian folk traditions. Influenced by artists such as Umm Kulthum, Fairuz, and Hossein Behrouzinia, Sohail brings these rich traditions to life through his music
:: GIVARRA AZHAR ABDULLAH is a Palestinian American, raised in Palestine, and lives in the St. Louis now. She is a transfer student currently in her sophomore year. She plans on majoring in Philosophy and minoring in African American Studies on the pre-med track. At Princeton, she is the president of SJP, a member of Rose Castle society, USG DEI committee, USG academics committee, and yeh college council. Outside of Princeton she trains in karate and Dabka. She also loves exploring countries, their history and culture. She was named after Che Guevara, an Argentinian revolutionary freedom fighter, physician, author, and major figure of the Cuban revolution.
:: AMBER RAHMAN is an undergraduate student of African American Studies at Princeton University. Her research disrupts the relationships between technological development, carcerality, and settler colonialism to challenge global surveillance practices and the strategies of empire. Amber is the Global Project Coordinator of the Ida B. Wells Just Data Lab and is an organizer with Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP).
:: AHLAM MUHTASEB is a professor of media studies and the graduate coordinator of the Department of Communication and Media at California State University, San Bernardino (CSUSB). She has an M.A. in Journalism and a Ph.D. in Communication Studies from the University of Memphis, Tennessee. She is the recipient of the 2024 Women Support Organization’s Distinguished Woman of the Year award and the 2024 Activism and Social Justice Scholarly Influence Award by the National Communication Association’s (NCA’s) Activism and Social Justice Division. She is also the recipient of the 2020 CSUSB Outstanding Scholarship, Research and Creative Activities Award and the 2019-20 Outstanding Research and Creative Activity Faculty Mentor Award. In 2019, she won the Rebuilding Alliance “Story Teller” Award. She co-produced and co-directed the documentary 1948: Creation & Catastrophe, winner of the Jerusalem International Film Festival’s 2019 Special Jury Award in the Feature Documentary category, and she was the producer and lead researcher of the documentary 36 Seconds: Portrait of a Hate Crime which premiered at the Doc NYC Film Festival in November of 2023 and won the Subject Matter Grant for Audience Outreach and Impact Efforts, in addition to the 2024 Swedish Academy Award for Best Documentary Film and the Dubai International Cine Carnival 2024 Award. She is the co-founder and faculty director of the Gaza xReal project: The Phoenix of Gaza. Her research interests include digital communication, digital resistance & decolonization, social justice, and diasporic communities. She is working currently on a study of Palestinian digital resistance and decolonizing digital spaces.
:: NAIM ABURADDI has a BA in Journalism from Istanbul University and an MA in Communication Studies from California State University, San Bernardino (CSUSB). As a result of his work and activism, Aburaddi was featured and interviewed by many media outlets such as Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, BBC and other channels and newspapers. In addition, he was awarded the 2022 CSUSB College of Arts and Letters Outstanding Graduate Student Award, the 2022 Department of Communication Studies Outstanding Graduate Student Award and the 2022 Outstanding Graduate Teaching Associate Award. Aburaddi has over seven years of experience in digital journalism and media. He worked for several international media production companies as a digital content editor, social media manager, and communication consultant. In addition, he taught oral communication courses as a stand-alone instructor at California State University, San Bernardino for two years. Furthermore, he presented several academic articles at national and international conferences such as the National Communication Association (NCA), and Arab Studies Quarterly (ASQ) Conference.
:: SOHAIL DAHDAL is an Australian-Palestinian filmmaker and multimedia artist with a strong interest in blending fictional narratives with real footage to craft compelling and innovative stories. Renowned for pushing the boundaries of traditional storytelling while maintaining strong narrative structures, his work has earned numerous international accolades, including the Interactive Media Awards in New York, the Best Storytelling Award at the Rotterdam International Film Festival, the Australian Interactive Media Awards, and the Sunbird Stories Jury Prize. Sohail holds a Doctorate of Creative Arts from the University of Technology, Sydney, and is currently the head of the Media Communication Department at the American University of Sharjah in the UAE. His creative focus spans traditional linear narratives and interactive immersive projects, with a strong emphasis on storytelling. He is also the founder and creative director of Fifth Wall Immersive Media Lab, a Sharjah-based start-up specializing in XR media.
:: AHLAM MUHTASEB, see above.
:: LALEH KHALILI is a professor of Gulf Studies at the University of Exeter in the UK. She is the author and editor of seven books, including her first book Heroes and Martyrs of Palestine: the Politics of National Commemoration (Cambridge 2007), and her latest The Corporeal Life of Seafaring (Mack Books 2024).
:: MAYA MIKDASHI is an Associate Professor of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies and Director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Rutgers University, New Brunswick. Her work focuses on state power, sexual and political difference, settler colonialism, and law and archives. She is author of the multiple-award winning book, Sextarianism: Sovereignty, Secularism and the State in Lebanon (SUP, 2022). Maya sits on the editorial collectives of the Journal of Palestine Studies and Social Text, and is a co-founding editor of Jadaliyya. She co-directed the documentary film About Baghdad (2004), filmed in Iraq, and directed Notes on The War (2006), filmed in Lebanon. Maya’s work has been translated into Arabic, Turkish, Farsi, Spanish, French, German, Korean, and Portuguese.
:: AREEJ HAMOUDA is from Beit Lahia, Gaza, with a Bachelor’s in Nursing, a Master’s in Mother and Child Health. She has over six years of experience in public and community health, and has worked with international organizations such as Handicap International, IOCC, MDM France, and others.
DAY ONE BIOS, in order of appearance:
:: BASSMA ABUALNAJA is an 18-year-old freshman student at Rutgers University, originally from Gaza, Palestine, pursuing her passion for Business. She has always been involved in sports, and in her free time she plays basketball at Rutgers. She is eager to make the best out of her college journey and to be a voice for her people in Gaza and Palestine.
:: BASMA ALAFIFI is a writer, filmmaker, and activist from Gaza whose work combines art and advocacy to address the Palestinian cause, social issues, and mental health. Now based in the U.S., she creates powerful narratives and visually compelling films that amplify marginalized voices and inspire change.
:: RUHA BENJAMIN is a transdisciplnary scholar and writer whose work focuses on how advances in science, medicine, and technology reflect and reproduce social inequality. She is Alexander Stewart 1886 Professor of African American Studies, Founding Director of the Ida B. Wells Just Data Lab at Princeton University, and the author of author of Race After Technology: Abolitionist Tools for the New Jim Code (2019), Viral Justice: How We Grow the World We Want (2022), and Imagination: A Manifesto (2024).
:: AHLAM MUHTASEB is a professor of media studies and the graduate coordinator of the Department of Communication and Media at California State University, San Bernardino (CSUSB). She has an M.A. in Journalism and a Ph.D. in Communication Studies from the University of Memphis, Tennessee. She is the recipient of the 2024 Women Support Organization’s Distinguished Woman of the Year award and the 2024 Activism and Social Justice Scholarly Influence Award by the National Communication Association’s (NCA’s) Activism and Social Justice Division. She is also the recipient of the 2020 CSUSB Outstanding Scholarship, Research and Creative Activities Award and the 2019-20 Outstanding Research and Creative Activity Faculty Mentor Award. In 2019, she won the Rebuilding Alliance “Story Teller” Award. She co-produced and co-directed the documentary 1948: Creation & Catastrophe, winner of the Jerusalem International Film Festival’s 2019 Special Jury Award in the Feature Documentary category, and she was the producer and lead researcher of the documentary 36 Seconds: Portrait of a Hate Crime which premiered at the Doc NYC Film Festival in November of 2023 and won the Subject Matter Grant for Audience Outreach and Impact Efforts, in addition to the 2024 Swedish Academy Award for Best Documentary Film and the Dubai International Cine Carnival 2024 Award. She is the co-founder and faculty director of the Gaza xReal project: The Phoenix of Gaza. Her research interests include digital communication, digital resistance & decolonization, social justice, and diasporic communities. She is working currently on a study of Palestinian digital resistance and decolonizing digital spaces.
:: NAIM ABURADDI has a BA in Journalism from Istanbul University and an MA in Communication Studies from California State University, San Bernardino (CSUSB). As a result of his work and activism, Aburaddi was featured and interviewed by many media outlets such as Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, BBC and other channels and newspapers. In addition, he was awarded the 2022 CSUSB College of Arts and Letters Outstanding Graduate Student Award, the 2022 Department of Communication Studies Outstanding Graduate Student Award and the 2022 Outstanding Graduate Teaching Associate Award. Aburaddi has over seven years of experience in digital journalism and media. He worked for several international media production companies as a digital content editor, social media manager, and communication consultant. In addition, he taught oral communication courses as a stand-alone instructor at California State University, San Bernardino for two years. Furthermore, he presented several academic articles at national and international conferences such as the National Communication Association (NCA), and Arab Studies Quarterly (ASQ) Conference.
:: MOSAB ABU TOHA is a Palestinian poet, short-story writer, and essayist from Gaza. His first collection of poetry, Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry and won the Palestine Book Award, the American Book Award, and the Walcott Poetry Prize. Abu Toha is also the founder of the Edward Said Library in Gaza, which he hopes to rebuild. He recently won an Overseas Press Club Award for his “Letter from Gaza” columns for The New Yorker.
:: NOURA ERAKAT is Professor of Africana Studies and Criminal Justice at Rutgers University, New Brunswick. She is the author of Justice for Some: Law and the Question of Palestine (Stanford University Press, 2019), which received the Palestine Book Award and the Bronze Medal for the Independent Publishers Book Award in Current Events/Foreign Affairs. In 2023, Noura co-chaired an Independent Task Force on the Application of National Security Memorandum-20 to Israel, a report documenting how U.S. arms to Israel have been used in violation of U.S. and international law and which was submitted to the White House. She is co-founding editor of Jadaliyya and an editorial board member of the Journal of Palestine Studies as well as Human Geography. She is a co-founding board member of the DC Palestinian Film and Arts Festival. Erakat has served as Legal Counsel for a Congressional Subcommittee in the US House of Representatives, as Legal Advocate for the Badil Resource Center for Palestinian Refugee and Residency Rights, and as national organizer of the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation. Noura has also produced video documentaries, including "Gaza In Context" and "Black Palestinian Solidarity.” Her writings have appeared in The Washington Post, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Review of Books, The Nation, Al Jazeera, and the Boston Review. She is a frequent commentator on CBS News, CNN, MSNBC, CBS, Fox News, the BBC, and NPR, among others. Noura recently completed non-resident fellowship of the Religious Literacy Project at Harvard Divinity School and a Mahmoud Darwish Visiting Professorship at Brown University. In 2022, she was selected as a Freedom Fellow by the Marguerite Casey Foundation.
:: NAIM ABURADDI, see above.
:: HEBA GOWAYED is an Associate Professor of Sociology at CUNY Hunter College & Graduate Center. Her research and writing centers the lives of people who migrate across borders and the unequal and often violent institutions they face. Her award-winning book Refuge, published with Princeton University Press, takes readers into the lives of displaced Syrians who sought refuge in the US, Canada, and Germany. Their experiences reveal that these destination countries are not saviors; they can deny newcomers’ potential by failing to recognize their abilities and invest in the tools they need to prosper. She is currently working on her second book, The Cost of Borders. Moving from Lesbos to Gaza to Tijuana, she investigates borders, not as markers of sovereign territory, but as a series of costly, and often deadly transactions. Heba's writing and ideas appear in academic journals as well as popular outlets including Slate, Teen Vogue, In These Times, the New Humanitarian, and others.
:: MAHDI SABBAGH is an architectural scholar and urbanist from Jerusalem. He is a co-curator of the Palestine Festival of Literature and Editor at large at the Avery Review. He is the editor of Their Borders, Our World (Haymarket Press, 2024) and is a 2023 Matakyev Research Fellow at the Center for Imagination in the Borderlands. His work has been published in the Journal of Public Culture, Jerusalem Quarterly, Curbed, Architecture of the Territory (Kaph Books, 2022), Open Gaza (AUC Press, 2021), the Funambulist, Arab Urbanism, Awham Magazine, and PLATFORM. Mahdi is a Doctoral Student at Columbia University and holds a Masters in Architecture from Yale.
:: SIREEN SAWALHA was born in the small village of Kufr Rai in Jenin, Palestine, comes from a family deeply connected to the region's rich history. She moved to the US in 1990 and completed her Bachelor's and Master's degrees at Rider University. Recognized by Cornell University for her outstanding contributions to education in 2022, Sireen serves as a social studies teacher in New Jersey. Beyond academia, she is a passionate chef and compelling storyteller, sharing her family's experiences under occupation. Sireen raises awareness about Palestinian culture and actively contributes to the struggle for Palestinian freedom. My Brother, My Land is the story of her family.