Sumud, or roughly “steadfastness” in English, is a practice of Palestinian anticolonial struggle aimed at destabilizing the colonial order and its technologies of rule. It thrives in the absence of a secured conceptual meaning, and its connotations and significations can only be glimpsed in the collective-singular practices of subjects-in-sumud. This seminar aims to analyze the forms of sumud from different fields of praxis—from the interrogation and torture chambers all the way to the economic field. Rather than working to find a single, stable meaning in sumud, we track and theorize its presence, its emergence, and its mobilization by subjects and collectivities engaged in anticolonial struggle.

Three interrelated axes organize our inquiry:

First, we aim to map out practices of sumud in different social and political fields, as well as in various historical moments. Some guiding questions include: How have practices of sumud changed historically, and what is their reach today? Do practices of sumud have different meanings in different fields? And how do we reflect upon and theorize this plurality in the context of an ongoing anticolonial struggle? To what extent is sumud distinct from “resilience,” a concept that is often used interchangeably with sumud despite the many differences between them? And what is the relationship between sumud and resistance?

Second, we investigate the intertwinement of sumud with the cultivation of anticolonial forms of life. What subjects and communities-in-struggle does sumud cultivate and sustain? How do practices of sumud compare to, or intersect with, other resistant or revolutionary practices, and what sensibilities are cultivated in each? Is sumud a rupturing evebte, or is it a thread that appears and disappears—an ever-present potential?

Third, we reflect on the temporality of sumud in relation to the temporality of liberation or emancipation. How do practices of sumud intervene in the present colonial order? What is the relationship between sumud and other future-oriented struggles for particular ends? Are practices of sumud the materializations of what is to come? Might sumud constitute a prefiguration of noncolonial futures, a reversal of colonial power relations that have yet to be abolished? Could sumud be both a means and an end? Might sumud be the ground from which revolts materialize? And if sumud is a series of small revolts within revolution, shouldn’t we also consider how sumud reconfigures the orthodox temporal depiction of revolution that posits a total break from the past and the present?

Conducted in Arabic, the seminar is convened in collaboration with the Palestine Focal Point of the Arab Council for the Social Sciences. Seven researchers and graduate students were selected to participate. The group first convened in October 2022 and since then has been meeting occasionally in person and from a distance. In December 2023, the group will hold a colloquium to share drafts of the participants’ research.

Conveners:
Lena Meari, Birzeit University Ferdoos Abed Rabbo Al-Issa, Bethlehem University and Doha Institute of Graduate Studies

Coordinator:
Firas Jaber, Researcher and Co-founder of Al-Marsad, Social and Economic Policies Monitor

Participants:
Madline Al-Halabi. Graduate student, Sociology, Birzeit University
Lama Ghosheh. Journalist and graduate student, Israeli Studies, Birzeit University
Niveen Shreem. Graduate student, Contemporary Arab Studies, Birzeit University
Mai Hammash. Researcher, Institute of Palestine Studies, and Inash al-Usra Association
Jawida Mansour. Researcher and Cultural Worker
Ruba Maswada. Researcher, Ministry of Jerusalem Affairs
Layan Kayed. Graduate student, Development Studies, Birzeit University; coordinator of Adala: Palestinian Coalition for Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights