Imperial Narratives vs Palestine’s Reality | Lorenzo Kamel

In this episode of the afikra podcast, we're joined by professor Lorenzo Kamel who explains biblical orientalism, shares insights on how colonial powers understood Palestine, the role of international conferences after World War I, and past plans for the displacement of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip. We talk about how religious understanding of Palestine fed imperial imaginaries, the creation of Transjordan, and the origins of the term "Nakba". Prof Kamel gets to the heart of the history of the Gaza Strip, and focuses on Palestinians and Jews in Ottoman Palestine, while also discussing why the one-versus two-state solution discussion is moot. Finally, he touches on global history as a field of studies and the role of epistemic violence within it.

This episode of the afikra podcast was recorded on April 10th at 1pm Palestine Time.

0:00 Introduction
1:13 Origins of Interest in the Middle East
2:26 Biblical Orientalism & "Imperial Perceptions of Palestine: British Influence and Power in Late Ottoman Times"
5:48 Persistent Understandings of Ottoman Palestine
8:32 Creation & Imaginations of Trans-Jordan
14:40 San Remo Conference
18:29 When Popularity & Support for the Zionist Project Arose
26:09 Gaza: Pre- and Post-1948 vs Gaza Now
37:32 Why Israel "Disengaged" From Gaza in 2005
42:29 Palestine's Future & Who Should Be the Solution Makers
50:56 History Below the Global: On & Beyond the Coloniality of Power in Historical Research
57:44 Book Recommendations

Lorenzo Kamel teaches Global History and History of the Middle East and North Africa at the University of Turin. He has held teaching and research positions at Harvard University, the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, ‘Ain Shams University in Cairo, and a number of other universities in Europe and the Middle East. His most recent books are 'History Below the Global' (Routledge 2024) and 'The Middle from Empire to Sealed Identities' (Edinburgh UP 2020).

Connect with Lorenzo 👉 https://twitter.com/lorenzokamel?lang=en

Theme music: Peninsular, Tarek Yamani 🔊 https://spoti.fi/47I59ns

Hosted by:
Mikey Muhanna 👉 https://www.instagram.com/mikey_mu/?h...

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