Comms Report: Palestine in Focus - Interdisciplinary Research Symposium 2026 at York University
Imran Sarwar and Mariyam Chowdhury
The Palestine in Focus research symposium was held at York University on April 21, 2026, bringing together scholars from York as well as other institutions, across a range of disciplines, to share research, insights, and critical perspectives on Palestine. The symposium was conceived as a collaborative research space, with authors sharing both completed and in-progress projects, allowing for dialogue centering Palestine from different scholarly vantage points. The intersectional nature of the Palestinian struggle was highlighted through the diverse topics covered in the symposium, ranging from questions of food sovereignty, health, and labor to discourse on solidarity struggles, role of art, and anti-colonial resistance. The one-day event was organized by the Palestine Research Cluster (PRC) at York University with support from the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies.
The current academic and political climate, within which the symposium was held, warrants attention. Faculty and students across Canada have taken on different roles and approaches in response to the ongoing genocide and scholasticide in Gaza, though with limited institutional level interventions and programmatic support. In this context the Palestine in Focus symposium provided a space for researchers to gather not only to advance academic research on the region, but also to express solidarity with Palestinian colleagues and scholars. In doing so the symposium aimed at addressing a gap in this space of critical scholarship and engagement—as one participant shared, ‘spaces that bring together so many people who are working on or with Palestine, are sanctuaries; I have been yearning for such spaces for quite some time’.
The collegial learning space was made possible by the rigor, generosity, and candor of the authors, discussants, and participants. The symposium was organized as a workshop, such that the authors shared their draft papers or proposals beforehand, depending on the stage of their project, with assigned discussants. The purpose of the symposium was not to present final and polished papers or presentations, but rather to have a meaningful dialogue on in-progress research, providing authors with insights that may be helpful in refining their work. This allowed for generative engagement during and in-between presentations. Authors included both faculty members and graduate students, and the format provided space for lateral conversations among participants, attempting to take off performance pressure, especially from students. The discussants, mostly assigned to a single submission, generously reviewed the submitted works and provided thoughtful commentary and feedback.
The symposium consisted of six thematic sessions: the politics of health, water and life; gendered economies: labor, land, and social reproduction; embodied knowledge: pedagogy, worldbuilding, and futurities; geographies of dissent: student protest and activism; witnessing Palestine: visual culture, archives, and erasure; internationalism, solidarity, and anti-imperial struggle. While some sessions and presentations specifically addressed questions of knowledge production and pedagogical practices, both within Palestine and in the context of research on Palestine, broader conversations among participants, especially in plenary sessions, also highlighted the role of universities and classrooms as spaces of dual potentialities—of stifling dissent and norm-policing on one hand, and generating interventions that center marginalized voices and anti-colonial praxis on the other. These conversations underscored the tensions and challenges that participants have faced while conducting research on Palestine in the academy over the last many years, and at the same time built on the theme of conducting collaborative and engaged research that emerged over the course of the day.
In the spirit of advancing the dialogue and scholarship on/with Palestine, we invite other higher education institutions, especially in Canada, to build similar spaces for research and engagement. At PRC we look forward to collaborating with colleagues, scholars, and other institutions in the coming year. This includes initiatives that support the work of universities in Palestine, connecting researchers and scholars in Palestine with relevant research projects in Canada, and the next iteration of the symposium that would build on the opportunities that emerged from this inaugural gathering.
