Dr. Saree Makdisi is Professor and Chair of English at the University of California, Los Angeles. His teaching and research are situated at the crossroads of several different fields, including British Romanticism, imperial culture, colonial and postcolonial theory and criticism, and the cultures of urban modernity, particularly the revision and contestation of charged urban spaces, including London, Beirut and Jerusalem. Makdisi’s most recent book is Tolerance is a Wasteland: Palestine and the Culture of Denial (University of California Press, 2022).
Since its launch in 2021, the Foundation for Palestinian Studies Fund at the University of Waterloo has provided our students, faculty, staff, and wider community with the opportunity to learn about the rich and complex body of scholarly, artistic, literary, creative, and popular works generated by Palestinians spanning the globe.
In this ongoing lecture series, we learn about and engage with each other to understand new perspectives and to work for peace in this often volatile region of the world. Right now, when Palestinians and Israelis alike are suffering and the humanitarian situation is deteriorating, we come together again to talk and to listen.