The MISR Review No.4

In this issue, we emulate the model we initiated in The MISR Review, no. 3. The bulk of the issue is a set of three lectures on a single theme; each lecture is followed by a set of comments, one or two.

The lectures were organized around a single theme, Palestine as a Question, given by Raef Zreik from Tel Aviv University. The three lectures were titled: 1. Formation; 2. Justice; and 3. Decolonisation.
We saw the lecture series as a way of introducing a debate on two critical questions: Israel/Palestine, and decolonisation.

Each lecture was commented on by a set of discussants, and then opened up to question from the wider audience. After the lecture series, both Professor Zreik and his discussants had a chance to revise their contributions. We are pleased to publish the results here.

Following the series of lectures are two stand-alone contributions on different subjects. Mohamed Amer-Meziane of Columbia University writes on ‘The Multiple Centralities of Africa: Geographies of Race, North African Perspectives and the Idea of a Decolonisation of Space’. Mbasughun Ukpi contributes an article on
‘The Unconsciousness of Feminist Writing in Okot p’Bitek’s Songs of Lawino, Ocol and Malaya’.

As is our practice, contributors to the issue include scholars from different institutions as well as doctoral students from MISR.

We invite short written responses (no more than 1,000 words) to any of the contents in this issue.

Mahmood Mamdani
August, 2020