On Palestine, Narrative, and Speaking from Within the Moment
Reading discussion
18 March 2026, 18:30 CET, via Zoom
Join South/South Movement for a collective reading and discussion of Recognising the Stranger by Isabella Hammad.
Several days before the 7th of October 2023, Hammad delivered the Edward W. Said Memorial Lecture at Columbia University. The lecture text, together with an afterword written in early 2024, forms Recognising the Stranger: “a searing appraisal of the war on Palestine during what feels like a turning point in the narrative of human history.”
Writing from within the moment rather than at a historical distance, Hammad gives voice to the Palestinian struggle for freedom while interrogating how narrative shapes recognition, responsibility, and refusal. The text pushes us to ask what it means to speak, write, and witness amid unfolding catastrophe.
This session will focus on narrative as a political and ethical terrain rather than a neutral medium. Please join us as we reflect on how Recognising the Stranger engages Palestine not only as subject, but as a site where history, power, and moral responsibility are actively being contested, and what it means to read and think from within such a moment.
Participants are encouraged to read the text in advance, though prior reading is not required. All are welcome to join, listen, and contribute.
Reading materials will be shared with participants after registration.
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