Description:

This talk draws on the book Men of Capital, which examines British-ruled Palestine in the 1930s and 1940s through a focus on economy. In a departure from expected histories of Palestine, the book illuminates dynamic class constructions that aimed to shape a pan-Arab utopia in terms of free trade, profit accumulation, and private property.

Sherene Seikaly is Associate Professor of History at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her book Men of Capital: Scarcity and Economy in Mandate Palestine (Stanford University Press, 2016) explores how Palestinian capitalists and British colonial officials used economy to shape territory, nationalism, the home, and the body. She is the editor of the Arab Studies Journal, co-founder and co-editor of Jadaliyya, and an editor of the Journal of Palestine Studies.

This lecture is part of the MENA program's New Directions in Middle East and North African Studies series.

Lunch served.