On Thursday, Februar y 12th, staff and students of the anthropology department of the Vrij e Universiteit, Amsterdam, will host another seminar in the What Abou t Palestine series titled "What about affirming Palestinian identitie s?", with Shadi Al-Tabatibi, and Tarek Ghanem.
Sha di Al-Tabatibi is a Palestinian photographer from Gaza whose work bridges documentary and artistic practice, and has received loc al and international recognition, and in 2024 and 2025, he collaborat ed with the Picturing Scholasticide collective at Leiden University. Drawing from his practice, in his talk, Shadi Al-Tabatiby will reflec t on photography as an act of testimony, resistance, and care, that c hallenges erasure while affirming Palestinian identities in all their plurality, with the aim of inviting collective reflection on the pow er of images to document violence, preserve memory, and insist on pre sence where disappearance is imposed.
Tarek Ghanem is a lecturer in Arabic and Islamic Theology, at the VU. In his talk, entitled, “Arabic Literature staring into (or squi nting at) the eye of Israel’s Genocide”, Tarek Ghanem will give a n overview of how Arabic literature and literati wrestled with the ge nocide, with a focus on the themes of loss, displacement, and the que stion of why--and how to--write literature altogether. It will includ e and engage with representative literary examples and translations f rom the genres of novel, poetry, literary essay, and correspondence, both from established literary figures and up-and-coming voices, Pale stinian and non-Palestinian, and from inside and outside Palestine.
To sign up, please write an e-mail to Wiebe R uijtenberg, assistant professor at the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology: w.d.ruijtenberg@vu.nl
DESCRIPTION: On Thursday, February 12th, staff and students of the ant hropology department of the Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, will host another seminar in the What About Palestine series titled "What about affirming Palestinian identities?", with Shadi Al-Tabatibi, and Tare k Ghanem. Shadi Al-Tabatibi is a Palestinian photogr apher from Gaza whose work bridges documentary and artistic practice, and has received local and international recognition, and in 2024 an d 2025, he collaborated with the Picturing Scholasticide collective a t Leiden University. Drawing from his practice, in his talk, Shadi Al -Tabatiby will reflect on photography as an act of testimony, resista nce, and care, that challenges erasure while affirming Palestinian id entities in all their plurality, with the aim of inviting collective reflection on the power of images to document violence, preserve memo ry, and insist on presence where disappearance is imposed.