(Re)Building Lives, Forging Futures

Reclamation, reconstitution, revitalization, regeneration and resistance in the face of erasure are inherent to the modern Palestinian condition. In addition to relentless everyday structural violence, Palestinians have experienced generational catastrophes (World War I, 1948, 1967, 1982 and 2023–present) characterized by large scale killing, destruction of built environments, forced displacement and ghettoization. Yet here they remain, more tenacious than ever, after every political and military defeat.

In the context of ongoing genocide, it is more critical than ever to understand practices and adaptations on the micro level that lay the foundations for collective social, cultural, and political movements. Such practices often lie below the radar of the de jure political field and remain hidden in the shadows of events of blinding historic scale such the 1948 Nakba. The 2025 NDPS workshop is open to proposals from any discipline or perspective that consider how Palestinians adapt, survive and reconstitute themselves. Topics include but are not limited to: Family and kinship, gender and childhood, labor and educational networks, literary and cultural currents, political mobilization and global solidarity, and institution building and philanthropy.