Peace processes, two-state vs one-state solutions and nonviolent protests. In conversation with Professor Wendy Pearlman from Northwestern University, we take two of her books as a foundation to examine grassroots activism historically and to consider a potential future “just” solution.
Wendy shares her views on realistic outcomes for the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli condition, and takes us through the history of Palestinian grassroots activism both in Palestine and internationally, delving deeper into the parallel between the apartheid in South Africa and in Palestine. Finally, we talk about the atmosphere on US college campuses right now — both for students and teaching staff. Wendy explains why she aims to speak to all her students in the classroom, regardless of where they stand on the Palestine issue.
This episode was recorded on November 8, 17:10 Palestine time
Please note that we're recording special podcast episodes relevant to understanding historical context to what is happening in Palestine. Make sure to check out the other highly informative conversations with guests from completely different disciplines who are generously sharing their time and insight in these dark times.
About Wendy:
Wendy is the Crown Professor of Middle East Studies and the interim Director of the Middle East and North Africa Studies Program at North Western University. She is a scholar of the comparative politics of the Middle East, social movements, and forced migration and has studied or conducted research in Morocco, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Spain, Germany, Israel and the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. She is the author of five books including Occupied Voices: Stories of Everyday Life from the Second Intifada (Nation Books, 2003) and Violence, Nonviolence, and the Palestinian National Movement (Cambridge, 2011).
Since June 2023, Wendy has served as co-editor-in-chief of the journal Perspectives on Politics. Previously, she was a Fulbright Scholar in Spain, a Starr Foundation Fellow at the Center for Arabic Studies Abroad at the American University in Cairo, a Junior Peace Fellow at the United States Institute of Peace, and a postdoctoral Fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.
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