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Call for abstracts | Conference “Talking about (the Silencing of) Palestine: On its Epistemological and Political Challenges”, 16-17 January 2025, Goethe University Frankfurt — LIMITE : 20/11/2024

Talking about (the Silencing of) Palestine: On its Epistemological and Political Challenges
 
Date: 16th17th January 2025
Place: Goethe University Frankfurt (Main), Germany & (in parts) hybrid
 
As the journalist Laila AlArian recently wrote: “To be Palestinian right now is to feel betrayed by those who remain silent, whatever their reasons, and to feel gratitude and hope from those who have spoken up” (The Nation 2024). This silence and its reasons, when embedded in the context of German academia and society, are to be both investigated, and overcome in this conference, thereby bypassing the stigmatization of a critical engagement with the history
and contemporary reality of Palestinian life and its endangerment.

Knowledge production on Palestine is conspicuous by its absence in contemporary German universities  with critical research being relegated to a state akin to erasure (Toukan 2024Hanbali et al. 2024). There are well rehearsed reasons for this, ranging from deliberate silencing of critical scholarship (Public Funding Affair in 2024) and events on Palestine (e.g. Palestine Conference 2024 in Berlin) in the recent past to the more gradual loss over decades of professorial chairs and institutes with expertise in the region. Yet there is a history of scholarship on Palestine, and a substantial critical theoretical and empirical expertise in Germany on these and related domains that provides important epistemological lenses for analysing the significant changes undergoing contemporary societies, such as the normalization of fascist politics and repression against (academic) debate. Still, when compared to other national or international circumstances, research on Palestine and the societal discourse associated with Palestine lag behind in Germany, tied down by selfsilencing and taboo, enacted by legally binding funding guidelines of what should be said, firings of antihegemonic standpoints, denunciations and multiple cases of doxing (AlTaher/Younes 2024ELSC 2023) as well as the silencing of Jewishdecolonial voices (Veracini 2024) and antizionist positions.

In such a repressive atmosphere where it is difficult to discuss and undertake research on Palestine, this conference aims to facilitate a framework to do so. It will foreground internationally recognised scholars working on Palestine, genocide and holocaust studies both within and beyond the Germanspeaking context as well as experts on academic freedom. By bringing together engaged researchers  with an explicit invitation to those who have been targeted by repression within their institutions for speaking about Palestine  the conference will also provide space to discuss some of the epistemological consequences that arise when (not) doing research on Palestine in German academia. Further, the conference is intended to strengthen a network of critically engaged scholars, with the aim of assembling a collective publication. In doing so, the conference intends to destigmatize the topic of Palestine and thereby lend credibility to broader struggles for justice, freedom and peace.

The conference will feature a range of formats, including panel discussions, keynotes and workshops. Central will be the issue of epistemic violence in Palestine, as well as inquiries into the challenges and opportunities of doing research on and in Palestine/Israel. Next to these fixed formats, the event seeks to create collaborative spaces for researchers and organizersto network and exchange ideas.
 
We therefore invite researchers to participate and send in an abstract based on (but not limited to) these suggested specifications:
 (Critical) History and the Contemporary Situation in Palestine
 Epistemic Violence and Epistemicide in (German) academia on PalestineStudies
 The Archiving of Palestinian Experience in Art, Literature and material culture & practices both within (historic) Palestine and the diaspora
 NakbaStudies and HolocaustStudies and their (im)possible interrelation
 Relating scientific knowledge production with social movements in the context of Palestine/Israel
 Architectures of Settler Colonialism and its security complex
 International Law, the ICC and ICJ trials, “Lawfare”
 Possibilizing Futures of Palestine: The Right of Return, (Municipal) Democracy and Socialism?

Please feel free to submit contributions on topics not listed here. We explicitly seek to foreground research on Palestine that might fly ‘under the radar’ and further welcome (individual or coauthored) submissions from students (both undergraduate and graduate), faculty, independent scholars, artists, organizers and otherwise engaged writers as well as researchers and legal experts of international law and/or scientific freedom. The abstracts will form the basis for either a workshop or participation in a panel discussion. They will be selected based on the evaluation of the planningcommittee and under consultation of advising scholars.

Length of the abstracts: max. 300 words
Deadline: 20th November 2024
Send title, abstract and affiliation (if applicable) to:
talkingaboutpalestineconference[at]proton.me
 
Confirmation of acceptance: 1st December 2024
After acceptance of an abstract, participants are expected where possible to hand in a conference paper (3 5 pages), which will be the basis for introductory remarks to a workshop or a presentation.

Conference timetable: 16th to 17th of January 2025
The conference will be held in English, but submissions in German are accepted as well.
 
Conference publication: The conference will be accompanied by a multimedia coverage. In addition, the most promising and engaging contributions will be nominated for publication in a special edition aimed at furthering the current state of research on Palestine and facilitating a critical intervention into current scientific and social discourses.
 
We are excited to work with you towards a critical and engaged contribution to the struggle for justice and peace. Please take heed of further details published.
 

For further inquiries and questions, please contact us at:
talkingaboutpalestineconference[at]proton.me
 
 

OpenEdition vous propose de citer ce billet de la manière suivante :
Chargé de diffusion scientifique (23 octobre 2024). Call for abstracts | Conference “Talking about (the Silencing of) Palestine: On its Epistemological and Political Challenges”, 16-17 January 2025, Goethe University Frankfurt — LIMITE : 20/11/2024. IISMM. Consulté le 19 avril 2025 à l’adresse https://doi.org/10.58079/12jyi


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