Palestine and the Politics of Decolonisation

Decolonisation is a commonly used term in today's cultural sphere. We regularly hear of the decolonisation of syllabi, of academic institutions, of literature, and of the arts. Yet, there is an ironic dissonance between prevalent agendas of decolonisation in western countries and the actual realities of contemporary colonialism. Can there be meaningful decolonisation without genuine anti-colonialism? Can cultural and academic decolonisation be detached from internationalist solidarity? These are some of the questions that will be posed by Professor Abdel Razzaq Takriti in this talk, with specific reference to Palestinian history and politics. Abdel Razzaq Takriti is Arab-American Educational Foundation Chair in Modern Arab History and Director of the Center for Arab Studies at the University of Houston. His research focuses on the history of revolutions, anti-colonialism, global intellectual currents, and state formation in the modern Arab world. He is the author of Monsoon Revolution: Republicans, Sultans, and Empires in Oman, 1965-1976 and the co-author (with Karma Nabulsi) of The Palestinian Revolution website learnpalestine.politics.ox.ac.uk, which recently won the 2019 Middle East Studies Association of North America's Undergraduate Education Award. Michael Mason is Director of the Middle East Centre. He is also Associate Professor in the Department of Geography and Environment and Associate of the Grantham Research Institute for Climate Change and the Environment. His research interests encompass environmental politics and governance, notably issues of accountability, transparency and security. Join the conversation on Twitter using #LSEPalestine