The Naksa at 50: Nostalgia and Memory in the Middle East and Beyond

A panel with Hosam Aboul-Ela (University of Houston), Elliott Colla (Georgetown University), and Nadia Yaqub (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) on The Naksa—the widely-¬‐used Arabic term for the “setback” suffered by Palestinians in the 1967 war—represented not only a defeat but also a turning point. While this turning-point had important political implications, its cultural ramifications and the explosion of creative expression it engendered also marked the Arab world indelibly. The proliferation of critical output produced by Arab thinkers and artists in its aftermath deserves to be at the center of academic inquiry as we observe this anniversary. Instead of focusing on political or legal repercussions, the conference panel will consider the relatively understudied impact of the Naksa in relation to Nostalgia and Memory, highlighting cultural production and institutional aspects of art.