Dear Colleagues and Friends,

The core mission of New Directions in Palestinian Studies (NDPS) at Brown University is long-term investment in networking a rising generation of scholars whose research centers the experiences and actions of Palestinians. It has done so over the past fourteen years through organizing a highly impactful annual workshop that opens new horizons for research, facilitating the publication of peer-reviewed articles by young scholars in leading journals, curating an open access book series with the University of California Press and offering an endowed postdoctoral position in this field. This is not to mention the Mahmoud Darwish Chair in Palestinians Studies, which I am honored to hold. NDPS also organizes, with the support of CMES staff, a series of outreach events, including book talks and the annual Mahmoud Darwish Distinguished Lecture Series.

I am excited to share with you that NDPS will soon be conducting an international search for the two-year postdoctoral position as well as sending out a call for papers for the 11th annual workshop. The theme for the latter, which I will organize with current Palestinian Studies Postdoctoral Research Associate Orwa Switat and Bowdoin College’s Nasser Abourahme, is "Refugee Camps and the Palestinian Condition." I am also pleased to announce that the Mahmoud Darwish Distinguished Lecture Series will be delivered by Sinan Antoon. Other events for the Fall 2026 Semester include talks by Paul Kohlbry on land Justice in Palestine; Esmat Elhalaby on international solidarity and anti-colonial intellectual history; and Orwa Switat on remapping demolished spaces in Gaza and Old City of Haifa. There will also be a literary reading and conversation with the Palestinian novelist Ibtisam Azem.

The overarching theme of NDPS activities over the past three years has been “Rebuilding Lives, Forging Futures.” Orwa Switat organized a series of events on this topic last academic year. His book in progress, De-Urbicide, combines political and spatial analysis with AI, 3D modeling, oral histories, archival research and storytelling to examine Palestinian practices of rebuilding across Gaza, Jenin, Jerusalem, Haifa, Nazareth and informal Palestinian Bedouin villages. 

Rigorous and engaged scholarship that centers Palestinians is critical to understanding the global significance of the Palestinian condition and the generational struggle of Palestinians for justice, freedom, equality and dignity. With your support, NDPS can continue investing in emerging scholars whose research centers Palestinians. 

Beshara Doumani

Mahmoud Darwish Professor of Palestinian Studies, Professor of History