Informed by Mannheim’s (1952) highly influential understanding of how political generations (cohorts who experience common political events during their formative years that continue to influence their worldview) tend to contest ideas inherited from their parents’ generation, and how these groups can then become the source of new values and new political movements, this paper analyzes the role of generational consciousness in the (re)construction of memory and future visions and the character of political thought emerging out of subsequent generations from Nablus. Based on archival research, interviews and focus groups, this project broaches the following questions: What have been the generation-formative events in the history of Nablus and what is the character of generational consciousness and varieties of political thought associated with each? How does each generation engage earlier generations? Further, how can one address these questions while both remaining aware of the ways in which current and future thinking is influenced by history and remaining attentive to how Palestinians produce and envision knowledge in ways both connected to existing realities and limitations without being entirely constrained by it (Joronen et al 2021)? This analysis is informed by a rich body of scholarship in Arabic in the form of both primary texts documenting the experiences and ideas of political actors from these generations (e.g., Darwaza 1993, Hilal and Farraj 2019, Kayyali 1967) and numerous secondary texts by Palestinian scholars whose focus on generation already attests to the saliency of generational consciousness for understanding this context (e.g., Azawza 2021, Dabbagh 2016/2017, Khalidi 2019, Taraki 2023). I demonstrate how generational formation impacts the character of political debates, contentious politics, and aspirational, future visions in this context, with as much attention to what a political generation shares (generational consciousness) as to what are the points of contention and even innovation across political generations. While the larger project looks at multiple generations that have formed in Nablus, starting with the Arab Revolt of 1936-1939, the work that will be presented in this paper (book chapter) hones in on two generations—one that emerges around the time of the killing of the teenager Lina al-Nabulsi in 1976 and a second on that forms with the first Intifada of 1987-1990--in order to critically examines the notion of “generational consciousness” in relation to other forms of consciousness (class, national, global).

What changes did the post-1956 generation of Egyptian women witness? These now-retired middle-class women were in the first cohort to be employed in larger numbers, as government employees, teachers, employees in the corporate world, and entrepreneurs. Now post-retirement age, these women achieved a lot personally, as well as were part of much wider social changes in Egypt. My methodology is ethnography, including participant observation in group settings of older women, as well as collecting their oral histories in a series of interviews, and also using focus groups which focused on the changes these women witnessed during their careers. The stories of these women are rich texts for understanding the social history of Egypt, as well as changes in the situation of women, from 1956 to the present day. The stories include those of a port supervisor of the Suez Canal, a university professor of art and architecture, a gynecologist, a heart specialist, the supervisor of the government’s housing administration, and a novelist who began writing after age 60. In addition to their recounting of their valuable careers, the women also reflect on the changes they have seen in women’s lives since the 1960s.

This research is on the developing relationship between Sunni and Shi'a Muslims in Iraq during and after Saddam Hussein’s presidency. In Iraq, Saddam ruled his country "with an iron fist," oppressing many of his people and keeping them in check. The aftermath of the 2003 US invasion of Iraq led to a power vacuum resulting in sectarian violence that caused many to flee the country. The research aims to examine the continuously shifting relationship between religion and politics in Iraq while also bringing into focus the voices of those most affected. Through reading a variety of scholarly research already completed in this field, it is clear that there are multiple shortcomings. There is a lack of perspective from the everyday experiences that Iraqis share and little analysis on the Shi'a communities, let alone research that investigates both sects. This research takes a new approach in introducing the inclusion of a comparative memory of everyday Iraqis in both Sunni and Shia sects. To examine this relationship, methods of ethnographic fieldwork and participant-observation are used along with oral interviews. Interviews have been conducted with Iraqi Muslim individuals, from both the Sunni and Shia sects, who lived through the Hussein era and who are now living in either North Carolina, the UK, or Jordan. Additionally, interviews with 2nd generation Iraqis further aid in understanding how these perspectives change generationally. This research is viewed through sectarianization with attention to the importance of diaspora communities and generational development. This is the growing attachment to one’s sect, especially within a religion, which can be politically or religiously motivated. It is found that sectarian identities are not essential; other identities such as tribe, class, geography, and family remain important. The time of coexistence between the two sects ended after the removal of Saddam Hussein from power when the country dissolved into sectarian conflict. Structural sectarianism continues to exist in diaspora communities through the physical separation of spaces. Nowadays, many Iraqis have since traveled back to their home country and share the easing of the sectarian conflict amongst the majority of the population. Despite this, tensions remain high between sect-backed political parties. The inclusion of these unheard voices allows scholars to get a diverse outlook on the experiences people had living in this time. Furthermore, it contributes to the field of conflict mediation by aiding in a more nuanced understanding of how conflicts present themselves within a country.

Neither citizens nor migrants, Palestinian residents of Jerusalem are required to regularly prove that their “center of life” is within municipal limits or risk residency revocation and expulsion even if their families have lived in the city for generations. Despite their precarious status, a key practice Palestinian residents of Jerusalem draw on to engage the constraints on daily life is, paradoxically, refusing citizenship. Generations of Palestinian Jerusalemites have debated this predicament, largely arguing against applying for citizenship by articulating a politics of refusal. However, many also consider citizenship a mode, not of simple concession, but of securing future access to their homeland and are expressing this position more openly than in previous eras. This paper draws on my dissertation chapter titled: “Citizenship Refusal and the Social Contract at the Center of Life”, and examines the tensions around boycotting or applying for Israeli citizenship in Jerusalem to ask how citizenship refusal is refracted from the viewpoint of Palestinian Jerusalem and everyday practices and political ethics. The context of Palestinian Jerusalem troubles the presumption of a shared, if unequal, social contract and raises limits to the political concept of refusal given the categorical exclusion of permanent residents from the state. Two different methodologies for interpreting refusal inform this paper’s initial motivations: Tina Campt’s Listening to Images (2017) and Audra Simpson’s Mohawk Interruptus (2014) and “The ruse of consent” (2017). This paper documents repertoires that catalog the tension with the residency regime since 1994 when large waves of residency revocations began. They include protests, periodicals, and debate, and the chapter draws on sources ranging from interviews to memoirs, newspapers, and digital forums on fatawa. The chapter also includes a brief discussion historicizing Palestinian citizenship and residency refusal in moments of rebellion like the Great Revolt (1936-1939) and the first Intifada (1987-1992). Overall, the chapter engages discussions and debates around this phenomenon with a comparison to different eras to demonstrate how refusal is reshaped around political moments but maintains coherence across varying imperial and colonial forms of rule.

The Bogazici University Protests, a leaderless social movement that emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic, heavily relies on digital technologies. The relationship between digital technologies and social movements has been explored from various perspectives, including social media usage, online storytelling, identity struggles, values, and organizational forms. Our focus on the Bogazici University Protests aims to uncover how protesters employ technology both on and off campus while challenging the university administration appointed by an authoritarian government. Our study attempts to reassess the use of digital technologies in social movements within the context of neoliberal authoritarianism. We ask an important question: How does technology mediate the understanding and experience of memory work in hybrid activism in authoritarian contexts? To address this question, we engage with scholarship from two fields: socio-political memory studies and human-computer interaction (HCI), and analyze data gathered from in-depth interviews with protesters affiliated with Bogazici University, including faculty, students, and alumni. We argue that the protesters have been engaging in various forms of memory work since the beginning of the Bogazici University Protests. However, this memory work has its own limitations, mainly stemming from the authoritarian political context as well as technological factors. Our findings help us identify the roles of shared and conflicting values and tactics in hybrid activism. They also enable us to explain different layers of memory work as well as its political and technical limits. In this way, our work adds to the existing knowledge of the HCI-activism connection, emphasizing the significance of memory work within authoritarian contexts. More than a decade has passed since the initial studies of HCI and activism, and during this time, authoritarianism has permeated nearly every political system worldwide. In this global landscape, it is imperative to reevaluate the opportunities and challenges presented by digital technologies for social movements. Secondly, we recognize the need to diversify our points of reference and enrich our understanding by incorporating non-Western perspectives on HCI and activism. Our study contributes to this diversification at the technology and social movements nexus.