Social Spatial theories argue that the producing of the city and the social relations within it, will forever be a production and re-production of human beings, by human beings, more than the production of objects. This talk claims that the 1948 Nakba did not mark neither the complete termination of the Palestinian city nor it marked the completion of the creation of the Israeli city. The talk presents the urban transformations during the first years following the Nakba, and illustrates the changes that took place in Hayfa at large through the transformations in the lives of the urban Palestinians who remained – al-Mutabaqqun. In addition, it argues that the Nakba not only had changed the Palestinian urban fabric, but that the ongoing settler-colonial policies, of both local and the national authorities, dramatically affect the urban social practices of the Mutabaqqun and disrupt their urban Habitus.
Wed 20 Jan 2021 | 17:00–18:30
De-Urbanizing Palestine: Transforming Hayfa into Haifa (1948-1953)
Himmat Zoubi (EUME Fellow 2018-21), Chair: Yasmeen Daher (Université de Montréal)
The talk is based on Himmat Zoubi’s book project which analyses the making of the Israeli “mixed cities” in state building era through the transformations in the lives of the Palestinians who remained, both real and symbolic. The book project relates socio-spatial theory, governmentality and population management approaches to accounts of counter-surveillance and every day resistance, and it is based on interviews and on an extensive excavation of many of the Israeli archives.
Himmat Zoubi is a Palestinian researcher and feminist activist. She received her PhD in Sociology from Ben-Gurion University with a dissertation entitled “Control Surveillance Discipline and Everyday Resistance: The Case of Haifa during the Military Rule”. She holds two Master’s degrees, one in Criminology and another in Gender Studies. Her work focuses on cities and urbanity in colonial context and she published several book chapters and articles on gender, cities and settler colonialism, memory and oral history, indigenous knowledge and resistance. She is a EUME Fellow since 2018.
In accordance with the measures against the spread of the coronavirus, this seminar session will be held virtually via ZOOM. Please register in advance via eume(at)trafo-berlin.de to receive the login details. Depending on approval by the speakers, the Berliner Seminar will be recorded. All audio recordings of the Berliner Seminar are available via the account of the Forum Transregionale Studien on SoundCloud.
