Description
The nation-state is a colonialist, imperialist creation. It does not represent the organic cultures of Indigenous peoples who are forced to live within these violently bordered confines. So when we talk about liberation and justice within the nation-state paradigm, what are we missing? What are we perpetuating that needs to be abolished?
Authors and Professors Mohammed Bamyeh and Ather Zia will discuss these questions and nuanced difficulties in a special evening panel to raise funds for doctors in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza.
Mohammed and Ather will also dig into:
- Postcolonialism and decolonization discussed as if they represent our current times. This is a fallacy, and a dangerous one.
- So-called democracies like Israel and India leading us to question if democracy means rule of the people, who gets to decide who the people are?
- Imposed structures such as nation-states vs. existing societal frameworks in Palestinian and Kashmiri culture
- The role of imagination and the bucking of realism.
And MORE!
ALL funds raised here go directly to doctors so please be as generous as you can be!
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Mohammed Bamyeh: Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Pittsburgh, author of “Anarchy as Order: the History and Future of Civil Humanity.”
Having lived in 18 cities across 4 continents, in two civil wars, two revolutions, and witnessed refugee conditions, I have developed a living rather than theoretical appreciation for a global sociology, as well as for the complex dynamics of conflict and social transformation. I am interested in subaltern perspectives, and am averse to prepackaged models, especially those based exclusively on U.S. or European case studies, which while important constitute a small part of our global experience. My work generally employs comparative angles, even where it involves specific case studies. I prefer a mix of disciplinary outlooks, and I always ground my teaching and research in historical and cultural processes. I am interested in social movements and revolutions, the nature of conservatism, the sociology of religion, and anarchism and social life organized outside the state. I view all orthodoxies, including well-meaning ones, as obstacles to knowledge. The most interesting sociology for me is one that is multi-dimensional, one approached as a science, but equally as an art.
Ather Zia: a political anthropologist, poet, short fiction writer, and columnist. She is a Professor of Anthropology and Gender Studies at the University of Northern Colorado. She is the author of Resisting Disappearances: Military Occupation and Women’s Activism in Kashmir, the founder-editor of Kashmir Lit , and co-editor of Cultural Anthropology.
Date & Time
Tue, Nov 18, 2025 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM