Book Launch: Palestine Online, Transnationalism, the Internet and the Construction of Identity
Thursday 29 September 2011 16:00 - 17:30
Dr Miriyam Aouragh, Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford
Professor William H. Dutton, Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford
Dr Karma Nabulsi, Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford
For Palestine's diaspora and exiled communities, the Internet has become an important medium for the formation of Palestinian national and transnational identity. In her book, "Palestine Online, Transnationalism, the Internet and the Construction of Identity", recently published by Taurus, Miriyam Aouragh looks at the Internet as both a space and an instrument for linking Palestinian diasporas in Palestine, Jordan and Lebanon. She closely examines the uses and limits of Internet technology under conditions of war, along with the ways in which virtual participation enables the generation of new ideals for political reconciliation and self-determination.
At this Oxford launch of her book, Miriyam will discuss with Bill Dutton and Karma Nabulsi the research behind it, the findings and implications for those affected by the Israeli-Palestine conflict and how it furthers understanding about the connection between electronic media, politics and national identity.
There will be a small reception following the main event.
Biographies
Dr Karma Nabulsi, Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford
Karma Nabulsi is Fellow in Politics at St Edmund Hall and lectures at the University of Oxford. She is currently Director of the MPhil in International Relations at the Department of Politics and International Relations. Her research includes 18th century political thought, 19th century republicanism and the construction of democratic republics, the laws of war, and the politics of Palestinian refugees, representation, and democracy. She is author of Traditions of War, a study of the ideological and historical foundations of the laws of war, and is currently writing Conspirators for Liberty: The Underground Struggle for Democracy in 19th Century Europe (forthcoming, WW Norton). She is director of the Civitas collective project on civic needs for Palestinian refugees and exiles, and editor of its Register: Palestinians Register: Laying Foundations and Setting Directions. Karma was formerly Open Prize Research Fellow in Politics at Nuffield College, Jean Monnet Fellow in the History and Civilisation Dept of the European University Institute, and Senior Research Associate of the Centre for International Studies at Oxford. She was Specialist Advisor to the House of Commons Select Committee's Inquiry on Development Assistance to the Occupied Palestinian Territories 2003-4; Specialist Advisor to the British All-Party Commission of Inquiry on Palestinian Refugees in 1999-2003, and its Report, Right of Return. Before coming to Oxford, she was a PLO representative working at the United Nations, in Beirut, Tunis, and a representative to the UK. She was a member of the Palestinian delegation to the peace process in Washington in the early 1990s. She is Chair of Trustees and co-founder of HOPING Foundation, a charity which raises awareness of Palestinian refugee youth and sponsors art, music, scholarships and education, sports and associational activities for young Palestinians in refugee camps across the Middle East. She is Patron of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign in the UK, founding member the Palestinian Women's Union, UK, and the Palestinian Community Association in the UK.
