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Re-­presenting Palestine: Sami Hadawi and Palestinian Decolonization in Canada
Abstract
This paper explores the ways in which Sami Hadawi (1904-2004) re-presented the Palestinian revolution in Canada. As the exiled East Jerusalemite and inaugural director of the Institute of Palestine Studies in Beirut settled in Toronto and became naturalized in the early 1970s, he was confronted with a historical Canadian tradition that prejudicially misrepresented Palestinian peoples, their nationalism, as well as the process of decolonization that they engendered. The moderate Hadawi witnessed how mainstream Canadian society demeaned the nascent Palestinian revolution as nothing but inhumane terrorism. Unable and unwilling to remain silent, the recently retired Palestinian-Canadian became one of a handful of public intellectual in Canada whose newfound life-mandate was to re-orient Canadian mis-representations of the Palestinian revolution. Using his private papers, privately published memoir, and writings, this paper examines how Hadawi integrated the Palestinian revolution into the Canadian public sphere, as well as critically unearthed interconnections between the two nations.
Discipline
History
Geographic Area
Palestine
Sub Area
None