COMPASSION FOR WHOM? Shifting U.S. Conversations About Palestinians and Israelis
October 20, 2021| 6 PM
Maha Nassar
What factors determine our level of compassion for different people, and how do these factors change over time? Understanding how a sentiment of care moves from individuals to “publics” in an era of social media, polling, and fake news is one of the ethical frontiers of our time. As the discourses over social and racial justice intensify in the United States, do American attitudes towards the suffering of others in far away places change as well?
In this talk, Maha Nassar, associate professor in the School of Middle Eastern and North African Studies, will discuss recent shifts in U.S. public discourse about Palestinians and Israelis, focusing on the rise in Black-Palestinian solidarity. In doing so, she examines the relationship between structural inequalities and social justice and addresses the question: for whom do we have compassion?
About the Speaker
Maha Nassar is an associate professor in the School of Middle Eastern and North African Studies, where she specializes in Arab cultural and intellectual history with a focus on Palestinians. Her first monograph, which received a 2018 Palestine Book Award, is titled Brothers Apart: Palestinian Citizens of Israel and the Arab World. Her next book project will examine how Palestinian identity has been constructed and maintained under the conditions of statelessness and transnational dispersal.
Admission
Free admission with registration.
Live/In-Person | Every Wednesday in October.
Contact Us
Please contact us if you have questions at lectures@email.arizona.edu.