Country of Words is a free and open course on Palestinian literature, hosted by WASSAP in collaboration with scholars at Birzeit University.
There will be more events in the near future.
For any questions, email elliotcmason@pennydropscollective.org.
The most recent event was on Saturday, 18 October 2025. The full-day online symposium featured talks by many internationally renowned writers, literary theorists, and activists, in conversation with Palestinian students. The MA students in literature at Birzeit University and An-Najah National University chose the panel topics. The students are: Jumana Nedal, Noor Nedal Alzaghal, Jomana Fathi Draidi, Mohammed Alawi, Tala Abahre, and Raneen Saadeh.
The chair of the panels was Bayan Haddad, who teaches in the Department of English Language and Literature at Birzeit University in Palestine.
The speakers were: Ramzy Baroud, Sabine Broeck, Amanda Batarseh, Batool Abu Akleen, Judith Kiros, Zahi Zalloua, Delarys Ramos Estrada, Eman Ghanayem, Asmaa’ Azaizeh, Noor Nedal Alzaghal, and Tala Abahre.
DESCRIPTION
In 1968, Ghassan Kalafani described the poetry of displaced Palestinians as “resistance literature”. He was assassinated by Israeli soldiers four years later, but his description of the “sustained, remarkable determination” of Palestinian writers remains crucial for those who continue the tradition of resistance literature. How has the form of literary resistance changed since 1968? What is the role of literature as a practice of resistance during a genocide? Join us in a collective attempt to put resistance literature into action as a cultural movement against the immense violence of today.
In this symposium, some of today’s leading Palestinian writers and literary theorists will be joined by MA students in literature at Palestinian universities to discuss the ongoing possibility and practice of resistance literature. The symposium is online, free, and open to everyone.
Country of Words began as a 10-part seminar series that ran from December 2024 to April 2025. The list of speakers and all the readings for each session are below.
Session 1. 3rd Dec. 2024. Anwar Hamed, Palestinian novelist and poet. Topic: “The self and the other in Palestinian and Israeli literature/art”.
Session 2. 17th Dec. 2024. Pelin Tan, Professor of Film, Batman University, Türkiye. Topic: “Threshold Infrastructures”.
Session 3. 14th Jan. 2025. Sumaya Haj, Associate Professor of English Literature, Birzeit University, Palestine. Topic: “Belated Palestinian Narratives”.
Session 4. 28th Jan. 2025. Ashley J. Bohrer, Assistant Professor of Gender and Peace Studies at the Keough School of Global Affairs, University of Notre Dame, USA. Topic: “The Liberatory Practices of Theory”.
Session 5. 11th Feb. 2025. Layal Ftouni, Assistant Professor of Gender Studies and Critical Theory at Utrecht University, Netherlands. Topic: “Trauma and the Limits of Writing”.
Session 6. 25th Feb. 2025. Bayan Haddad, Instructor in Literature and Cultural Studies at Birzeit University, Palestine.
Session 7. 11th March 2025. Mayssoun Sukarieh, Senior Lecturer in International Development at King’s College London, UK.
Session 8. 25th March 2025. Neferti X. M. Tadiar, Professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Barnard College, USA.
Session 9. 8th April 2025. Lenora Hanson, Assistant Professor of English at New York University, USA.
Session 10. 22nd April 2025. Graduate students at An-Najah National University. This final session will be led by course participants and will focus on two topics, with one hour dedicated to each topic. The topics and graduate student teachers are: (1) Translation and narration, led by Shahd Ziad As’ad, Sanaa Sami Jaber, and Jomana Fathi Draidi; (2) Women’s voices from Gaza, led by Noor Alzaghel.
Session 10 with An-Najah National University students
This session is taught by Palestinian students who have been attending the course.
First part: Women’s voices from Gaza, taught by Noor Alzaghal. Readings/watchings:
1. Narrative as perseverance of the past, explaining the presence, and a guidance towards a future of resistance. Gaza and Colonialism: Hakawatya episode by Bisan Owda: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swnBsgd3Z0k&ab_channel=WizardBisan
2. Narrative as documentation of truth and a tool for reclaiming agency and a call for action. Article: “Hair cutting as resistance: Gazan women and the failures of global feminism”:
Second part: Translation and narration, taught by Jomana Fathi Draidi and Shahd Ziad As’ad. Readings:
1. I Saw Ramallah by Mourid Barghouti
2. “Researching Translation in the Age of Technology” (first 50 pages), Neil Sadler.
We will meet on Tuesday, 22 April 2025, at 5pm Swedish time / 6pm Palestinian time. The Zoom link is: https://uu-se.zoom.us/j/68237935747
Meeting ID: 682 3793 5747
Everyone is welcome
Session 9 with Lenora Hanson: Hidden Histories
The are three readings for this session. They are:
(1) and (2) Basem L. Ra’ad, Hidden Histories: Palestine and the Eastern Mediterranean (2010), 53–64 and 111–114:
(3) Hamdan Taha, “Jerusalem’s Palestine Archeological Museum” (2021)
Session 8 with Neferti X. M. Tadiar: Literary Obscurities
In this session, Neferti Tadiar will discuss two texts with us. The texts are:
(1) Ramzy Baroud, The Last Earth: A Palestinian Story (2017), chapter 3.
(2) Adora Faye de Vera, “Culasi, Upon Returning Again” (1994).
Session 7 with Mayssoun Sukarieh: Palestinians and Radical Education: Histories, Experiments and Concepts
- Yamila Hussein, ‘The Stone and the Pen’ (2005).
2. Munir Fasheh, ‘Community Education’ (1990).
Session 6 with Bayan Haddad: Writing and Reading in Times of Emergency
Readings:
1. Toward an Intellectual History of Genocide in Gaza by Esmat Elhalaby
3. “I Am You” by Refaat Alareer
4. “Our Siege Is Long” by Muin Bseiso and Mahmoud Darwish
Session 5 with Layal Ftouni: “Still… We write: Trauma and the Limits of Language”
(1) Ihmoud, S. (2023, October 21). ‘“Ghassa,’ The Lump in One’s Throat Blocking Tears and Speech”. Institute for Palestine Studies. Available here: https://www.palestine-studies.org/en/node/1654463
(2) Sheehi, L., & Sheehi, S. (2021). “The Will to Live in Palestine”. In Psychoanalysis Under Occupation: Practicing Resistance in Palestine. Routledge.
(3) Abraham, G., & Aziza, S. (2024, January 29). “Letters From the Apocalypse”. The Nation. Available at: https://www.thenation.com/article/world/apocalypse-letters-palestine-george-abraham-sarah-aziza/
(4) Tbakhi, F. (2023, December 8). “Notes on Craft: Writing in the Hour of Genocide”. Protean Magazine. Available at: https://proteanmag.com/2023/12/08/notes-on-craft-writing-in-the-hour-of-genocide/
Session 4 with Ashley J. Bohrer: “The Liberatory Practices of Theory”
In our fourth session, Ashley Bohrer will disucss bell hooks’ text “Theory as Liberatory Practice” with us, asking where personal experience fits in philosophical and theoretical struggles, and how our own experiences can be used as theory and as political insurgency.
Reading for session 4: bell hooks, “Theory as Liberatory Practice”
Session 3 with Sumaya Haj: “Belated Palestinian Narratives”
Readings for Session 3. Two short stories: “Narrative” by J. H. Miller; “The Backgammon Player” by Mahmoud Darwish.
Session 2 with Pelin Tan: “Threshold Infrastructures”
Readings for Session 2. Core: “Entangled Exiles” by Pelin Tan (essay) in E-flux journal (https://www.e-flux.com/journal/131/502144/entangled-exiles/); “Landscapes as Archives” by Pelin Tan (short film available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qLWukSNbHE). Extra: “Surpassing Disaster: Haunted by an Imaginary Smyrna” by Pelin Tan (essay) in E-flux journal (https://www.e-flux.com/journal/118/394936/surpassing-disaster-haunted-by-an-imaginary-smyrna/).
Session 1 with Anwar Hamed: “The self and the other in Palestinian and Israeli literature/art”
Readings for Session 1. Core: “Returning to Haifa” by Ghassan Kanafani (short story); “The Key” by Anwar Hamed (short story). Extra: The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem by Sarit Yishai-Levi (the novel or the TV series); Munich by Steven Spielberg (film).
WASSAP 