Past Events and Recordings
Ethics of Journalism in Times of Crises
Thursday 30th October, 6pm-7pm ONLINE
Panel event with, Laila El-Haddad, Gideon Levy, Aidan White and chaired by Barnie Choudhury
Judaism, Shakespeare, and Israel: A conversation with Peter Beinart
Wednesday 26th February, 3pm-4pm
Online (please email s.haider@uea.ac.uk to register and receive the Teams Link)
Peter Beinart is Professor of Journalism and Political Science at the Newmark School of Journalism at the City University of New York. He is also Editor-at-Large of Jewish Currents, an MSNBC political commentator, a frequent contributor to The New York Times, and a Non-Resident Fellow at the Foundation for Middle East Peace. Peter has written a number of books and his latest book, Being Jewish After The Destruction of Gaza (2025) is what this event will focus on in conversation with Dr Syed Haider.
Syed Haider is a Lecturer in World Cinemas at the University of East Anglia and co-founder of AoU. His work explores how cinema—both as a distinct aesthetic practice and as an embodied spectatorial experience—challenges discursive and confessional identities, which are often divisive. By fostering an embodied and aesthetic sense of self, cinema offers an alternative way of engaging with the “other” and rethinking notions of alterity. Syed’s research is particularly focused on the intersection of the somatic and the semiotic, examining how the body and meaning-making processes converge in cinematic experience. Syed’s article, Othello in Zion (2022) will also be a focus of this event and can be read here.
Where Olive Trees Weep
Screening with Introduction by Prof. Eylem Atakav (TBC).
Thursday 30th January 2025, 5.15pm
Julian Study Centre (JSC) 2.02
Two Peoples, One Fight: Palestinian and Tamil Perspectives on Genocide and Liberation
Panel discussion with, Mario Arulthas; Dr Madura Rasaratnam; Fathima Cader; Abarna Selvarajah; Dr Mjriam Abu Samra; Prof Neve Gordon (Chair).
Thursday 12th December 2024, 5.30pm
Thomas Paine Study Centre (TPSC) 2.04 and Online*
Read more about this event HERE
We asked our panellists to share resources that linked to the topic of the panel, and are grateful for the following:
From Spaci-ocide to Genocide
A Lecture and Conversation with Prof. Sari Hanafi and Prof. Ghada Karmi
Thursday 28 November 5pm
Julian Study Centre (JSC) 2.02 and Online*
ABSTRACT: Over a year into the Gaza War, the Palestinian civilian death toll has reached 38 times that of Israeli casualties during the October 7 Hamas attack. How can we frame this war? What kind of moral reasoning and clarity is possible? In this talk, Sari Hanafi presents this conflict as a shift from “spacio-cide”—targeting land to render it uninhabitable and compel the “voluntary” transfer of the Palestinian population—to genocide.
BIO: Sari Hanafi is a Professor of Sociology, Director of the Center for Arab and Middle Eastern Studies, and Chair of the Islamic Studies program at the American University of Beirut. Ghada Karmi is an academic and author of many books including most recently, ‘One State: The Only Democratic Future for Palestine-Israel‘ (2023).
Settler Colonial Pasts, Settler Colonial Presents
Between 25th April and 9th May 2024, Alliances of Understanding held a screening of Rachel Perkin’s, ‘The Australian Wars’. This three-part documentary was screened over three weeks (one episode per week) followed by reflections by . Rachel’s rousing (and award winning) documentary cannot be watched in the present moment without thinking about the current crises in the world. This moment in time inflects the terrible history of settler colonialism in Australia in a particularly stirring way and invites thoughts and reflection that go beyond the twenty-four-hour news reel culture of current affairs. This is what this three-week series aimed to do. You can watch Rachel’s documentary on BBC iPlayer, Daily Motion, or Foxtel. Below are the reflections following the screening of each episode. We thank Dr Sarah Keenan, Dr Nadia Naser-Najjab, and Dr Ran Greenstein for accepting our invitation.
Resources* linked to these sessions can be accessed here, including recommendations by invited guests.
Fearing Painted Devils: Ideology and Violence
On 16th May 2024, Alliances of Understanding hosted a panel discussion to explore the intertwined narratives of Zionism, Hindutva ideology, and Islamism. Unfortunately, both Tariq Ali and Ilan Pappe were unable to attend and had to pull out last minute, but we were delighted to have Prof. Nivedita Menon and Prof. Aamir R. Mufti join us. Dr Anuradha Sajjanhar stepped in to chair and did a fabulous job, replacing Emily Hilton who was also unable to attend. We were very grateful to Anuradha for her support and thrilled by the serendipitous fact that Anuradha’s first monograph, The New Experts, came out on the very day of the event!
The panel session was followed by a screening of Edward Said’s 1998 lecture, ‘The Myth of “The Clash of Civilisations”‘, which he delivered at the University of Massachusetts. You can view this here.
Resources* linked to these sessions can be accessed here, including recommendations by invited guests.
Alliances of Understanding: A Day of Palestinian Cinema and Poetry
22nd February 2024
*These pages are under construction. Please check back later.
Alliances of Understanding 