Maha Nassar

Interests

Research

Nationalism and Religion in the Middle East, Language and Culture in the Middle East, Arabs and Muslims in the United States, Women and Gender in Islam and the Middle East

Teaching

Nationalism and Religion in the Middle East, Language and Culture in the Middle East, Arabs and Muslims in the United States, Women and Gender in Islam and the Middle East

Courses

Scholarly Contributions

Books

• Nassar, M. (2017). Brothers Apart: Palestinian Citizens of Israel and the Arab World. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

Chapters

• Nassar, M. (2022). Palestinian Citizens of Israel. In Routledge Handbook of the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict.
• Nassar, M. (2021). Between Two States and One: Palestinian Citizens of Israel. In Rethinking Statehood in Palestine.
• Nassar, M. (2020). NON-ZIONISTS, ANTI-ZIONISTS, REVOLUTIONARIES: PALESTINIAN APPRAISALS OF THE ISRAELI LEFT, 1967-73. In The Arab Lefts: Histories and Legacies 1950s-1970s, edited by Laure Guirguis(pp 169-86). Edinburgh University Press.
• Nassar, M. (2020). Non-Zionist, Anti-Zionist, Revolutionary: Palestinian Appraisals of the Israeli Left. In Histories and Legacies of the Radical Lefts in the Arab World, 1960s-70s. Edinburgh University Press.
• Nassar, M. (2018). "Looking Out, Cheering On: Global Leftist Vocabularies among Palestinian Citizens of Israel". In The Global Sixties: Conventions, Contests, and Countercultures. Routledge.
  More info

  https://www.routledge.com/The-Global-1960s-Convention-contest-and-counterculture/Chaplin-Mooney/p/book/9781138709485
• Nassar, M. (2017). Looking out, cheering on: Global leftist vocabularies among Palestinian citizens of Israel. In The Global Sixties: Conventions, Contests, and Countercultures, edited by Jadwiga E. Pieper Mooney and Tamara Chaplin(pp 255-72). Taylor and Francis. doi:10.4324/9781315200828
  More info

  In early 1969, 28-year-old poet and political activist Samih al-Qasim penned a review of a poetry collection written by his fellow Palestinian citizen of Israel, 50-year-old writer and journalist Michel Haddad. Haddad’s collection, the first book of Arabic prose poetry to be published in Israel, utilized a modernist style and invoked a celebration of the individual spirit that was popular in Western literary circles. But Qasim, who had been strongly influenced by the socialist realist approach to literature promoted by the Soviet Union, found Haddad’s apolitical poetry distasteful. “We live in a society dominated by bourgeois thought and bourgeois tastes,” Qasim wrote in his review. “In such a society, truly humanistic art defies the terroristic campaign … that claims ideology and politicization corrupt art.” Citing Chilean poet-diplomat Pablo Neruda and German poet-playwright Bertolt Brecht as examples, Qasim insisted there existed a rich global tradition of cultural producers who “proved to the world that art with a cause is the only long-lasting art. And they proved that ideological [underpinnings] tend to bestow upon artistic works tremendous fervor and attention.” 1 Qasim’s criticism of modernism and his defense of cultural productions that expressed clear political views illustrate the ways in which the intense and highly charged global discussions regarding the role of art in political struggles reverberated far beyond the intellectual centers typically associated with the global 1960s. By linking local cultural production to global trends, Qasim, along with Mahmoud Darwish and other young poets who had recently come to dominate the Arab literary scene, sought to place their cultural productions within a broader global context.
• Nassar, M. (2016). "My Reselient Flag". In Being Palestinian: Personal Reflections on Palestinian Identity in the Diaspora. Edinburgh University Press.
  More info

  I was invited to contribute a chapter to the anthology Being Palestinian, edited by Cambridge professor of Linguistic Yasir Suleiman. It is forthcoming for 2015.

Journals/Publications

• Nassar, M. (2022). Exodus, Nakba Denialism, and the Mobilization of Anti-Arab Racism. Critical Sociology, 49(6), 1037-1051. doi:10.1177/08969205221132878
  More info

  Nakba denialism – that is, denying Zionist culpability for the mass expulsions of Palestinian Arabs from their homeland in 1948 – has long been a feature of US discourse on Palestine. Through a content analysis of Leon Uris’ 1958 novel, Exodus, I argue that Nakba denialism rests on three anti-Arab racist tropes. The first trope presents Palestinian Arabs as lacking religious attachment to Palestine, the second trope claims they lack modern feelings of national identity, and the third trope claims they are easily induced to commit acts of violence by their ruthless leaders. Through the deployment of these tropes, the Exodus narrative popularized key elements of Nakba denialism in US discourse by blaming the victims of settler colonial violence for the expulsions they faced. More broadly, this article shows how the imbrication of race and settler colonialism functions to epistemologically erase the very acts of settler colonial violence that produce racialized Others.
• Nassar, M. (2018). Decolonization and Cultural Production among Palestinian Citizens of Israel,” in “Roundtable: Minoritization and Pluralism in the Modern Middle East. International Journal of Middle East Studies, 50(4), 778-780. doi:DOI: 10.1017/S0020743818000958
• Nassar, M. -. (2014). Article, "My Struggle Embraces Every Struggle: Palestinians in Israel and Solidarity with Afro-Asian Decolonization Movements”. Arab Studies Journal, 22(1), 74-101.
• Nassar, M. -. (2011). "Palestinians Citizens of Israel and the Discourse on the RIght of Return, 1948-1959". Journal of Palestine Studies/University of California Press.
  More info

  Your Role: Sole author;Full Citation: Maha Nassar, "Palestinian Citizens of Israel and the Discourse on the Right of Return, 1948-1959," Journal of Palestine Studies, vol 40, no. 4 (Autumn 2011): 45-60.;
• Nassar, M. -. (2010). The Marginal as Central: Al-Jadid and the Development of a Palestinian Public Sphere, 1953-1970. Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication.
  More info

  ;Full Citation: Maha Nasssar, "The Marginal as Central: Al-Jadid and the Development of a Palestinian Public Sphere, 1953-1970." Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication 3 (2010) 333-351.brill.nl/mjcc;

Presentations

• Nassar, M. (2024, September). Panel on Gaza. State Department. online.
  More info

  I presented to members of the State Department on the future of Gaza. 
• Nassar, M. (2025).

  Invited talk: “Steadfast on Campus: A Century of Global Palestinian Student Activism,” Middle East Studies Department

  . University of Texas-Austin Middle East Studies Department Colloquium. Austin, Texas.
• Nassar, M. (2025, April).

  Invited Panelist: "Spheres of Sumud: Historicizing Palestinian Conceptualizations of Steadfastness," 

  . New Approaches to Palestinian History Symposium. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University History Department.
• Nassar, M. (2025, February).

  Invited panelist: “Palestinian Faculty in the Israel/Palestine Classroom,” Teaching Israel/Palestine Symposium

  . Elon University's Teaching Israel/Palestine Symposium. hybrid: Elon University's Provost Office.
• Nassar, M. (2025, January).

  “Supporting Muslim, Middle Eastern, and Palestinian Students on Our Campus” 

  . University of Arizona Campus Community Connections. online: University of Arizona, Vice Provost's Office.
  More info

  I gave a presentation to UA staff members on how to support Muslim, Middle Eastern and Palestinian students on our campus
• Nassar, M. (2025, January).

  “Supporting Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian Students on Campus” 

  . University of Maryland Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. College Park, MD: UMD.
  More info

  I led an in-person training for faculty and staff at the University of Maryland on how to better support Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian students on their campus and beyond
• Nassar, M. (2025, March).

  Invited keynote talk: “Steadfast on Campus: A Century of Global Palestinian Student Activism,” City University of New York-Graduate College.

  . City University of New York-Graduate College, History Graduate Colloquium. New York City: CUNY-GC History Department.
• Nassar, M. (2024). Understanding Muslim Perspectives: Challenges and Opportunities for Educators. Pima Community College. zoom: Pima Community College.
• Nassar, M. (2024, April). Palestinian HIstory before 1948. Foreign Service Institute. zoom.
  More info

  I gave my semi-yearly presentation on Palestinian history to foreign service officers with the State Department who will be/are stationed in the MIddle East as part of their service learning course. 
• Nassar, M. (2024, January). "From the River to the Sea: Palestinian Visions of Freedom and Peace". Mesa Community College - Civic Action Hour. zoom: Mesa Community College Center for Community and Civic Engagement.
• Nassar, M. (2024, November). "The Promises and Pitfalls of Studying Palestinian History". Palestine and Arab Studies Inaugural Conference, UC Berkeley. Berkeley, CA.
  More info

  I presented on the promises and pitfalls of studying Palestinian history in Western academic institutions as part of the inaugural Palestine and Arab Studies conference at UC Berkeley.
• Nassar, M. (2024, November). Palestinian History before 1948. Foreign Service Institute. zoom.
  More info

  I gave my semi-yearly presentation on Palestinian history to foreign service officers with the State Department who will be/are stationed in the Middle East as part of their service learning course. 
• Nassar, M. (2024, October). "Steadfast on Campus: A History of Palestinian Student Activism". Lecture at Stanford University. Palo Alto, CA.
  More info

  I presented research from my book to faculty, students, and staff at Stanford University.
• Nassar, M. (2024, September). "Talking about Israel/Palestine with Compassion". Heads Up Meeting. zoom.
  More info

  I shared my research on discursive framings of Israel/Palestine with heads and directors at the Heads Up meeting and offered suggestions for creating a more supportive environment for all campus community members.
• Nassar, M. (2023). "Teaching Israel/Palestine with Compassion". UArizona College of Education Constructive Dialogue series. College of Education: UArizona College of Education.
  More info

  I spoke to faculty, students and staff in the UA's College of Education regarding how to teach on sensitive topics with comassion for multiple perspectives.
• Nassar, M. (2023, November).

  Invited Lecture, “From the River to the Sea: Palestinian Visions of Freedom and Peace,” University of New Mexico (online), November 29, 2023.

  . University of New Mexico Law School. online: University of New Mexico.
• Nassar, M. (2023, October).

  “Palestine in Global Solidarity,” Panel discussion, 

  . Society for Cinema and Media Studies, University of Oregon, October 17, 2023.. online: Society for Cinema and Media Studies, University of Oregon.
• Nassar, M. (2021, November). Solidarity When: A Conversation about the Past, Present, and Future of Solidarity Politics". MENA Program at Northwestern University. zoom: MENA at Northwestern University.
• Nassar, M. (2021, October). “The 2021 Mobilization of ’48 Palestinians". University of Edinburgh/Middle East Research and Information Project. online: University of Edinburgh/Middle East Research and Information Project.
  More info

  I participated in a panel discussion on the political mobilizations of Palestinian citizens of Israel ('48 Palestinians) during May 2021 and what it might mean for the future.
• Nassar, M. (2020, February). "Global Islam in the United States: Integrating American Muslims into Our Curriculum". Global Islamic Studies Faculty Pedagogy Workshop. Connecticut College: Global Islamic Studies Program/Andew W. Mellon Foundation.
• Nassar, M. (2020, February). Palestinian Cultural Resistance from the Nakba to the ‘Deal of the Century.’”. Colloquium. Vassar College: Vassar College Department of History and Program of Judaic Studies.
• Nassar, M. (2020, Feburary). "Palestinian Cultural Resistance from the Nakba to the ‘Deal of the Century.’”. Colloquium. Yale University: Yale Center for the Study of Race, Indigeneity, and Transnational Migration , Council on Middle Eastern Studies, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations.
• Nassar, M. (2020, March). "Being Modern, Becoming Modern: Palestinian Citizens of Israel and the Culture Debates of the '50s". Research Seminar. Brandeis University (via Zoom): Brandeis University Schusterman Center for Israel Studies.
• Nassar, M. (2018, March). Voices from Palestine. Tucson Festival of Books. UA Mall: UA College of Social and Behavioral Sciences.
  More info

  I presented the findings of my book to festival audience members.
• Nassar, M. (2018, November). Brothers Apart: Palestinian Citizens of Israel and the Arab World. Department of Near Eastern Studies Colloquium. Princeton, NJ: Dept. of Near Eastern Studies, Princeton University.
• Nassar, M. (2018, November). Centering the Subjectivity of Palestinian Mothers. National Women's Studies Association Annual Meeting. Atlanta, GA: NWSA.
  More info

  Delivered a conference paper examining how Palestinian mothers are portrayed in two novels by Palestinian-American authors
• Nassar, M. (2018, October 1). Brothers Apart: Palestinian Citizens of Israel and the Arab World. Center for Palestine Studies Colloquium. New York, New York: Center for Palestine Studies, Columbia University.
  More info

  I delivered a book talk at Columbia University.
• Nassar, M. (2018, October). Before Ferguson and Gaza: How Black-Palestinian Solidarity Impacts Social Justice Work Today. Colloquium at Stockton University. Galloway Township, NJ: Masters of Arts in Holocaust and Genocide Studies Program.
• Nassar, M. (2017, November). Brothers Apart: Palestinian Citizens of Israel and the Arab World. Institute for Middle East Studies at George Washington University. Washington, D.C.: George Washington University.
  More info

  I gave a book talk to IMES
• Nassar, M. (2017, October). Brothers Apart: Palestinian Citizens of Israel and the Arab World. Center for Middle Eastern Studies - University of Arizona. Tucson, Arizona: CMES - University of Arizona.
  More info

  I delivered my first book talk to the CMES at the University of Arizona
• Nassar, M. (2016, February). Shared Solidarity: Palestinians and African Americans in the 1960s and Today. Benedictine University Global Studies Forum. Lisle, IL: Benedictine University.
  More info

  I was invited to the the keynote speaker at Benedictine University's Global Studies Forum.
• Nassar, M. (2016, November). Affirming Humanity: Palestinian Views of African-American Struggles in the 1950s and ‘60s. Middle East Studies Association Annual Meeting. Boston, MA: MESA.
• Nassar, M. (2015, April). Boycott and Solidarity: Palestinian Citizens of Israel and the 1968 World Youth Festival,”. University of Arizona CMES Lecture Series,.
• Nassar, M. (2015, March). Boycott and Solidarity at the 1968 World Youth Festival,”. New Directions in Palestinian Studies International Conference,. Brown University.
• Nassar, M. (2015, November). Colonial and Anti-Colonial Discourses Regarding Palestinian Women in Israel. Middle East Studies Association Annual Meeting. , Denver, CO.
• Nassar, M. -. (2012, 2012-01-01). And For Us, Too: Decolonization Movements and the Palestinian Counterpublic in Israel, 1960-67. American Historical Association Annual Conference. Chicago, IL.
  More info

  This paper examines how Palestinian activists in the Israeli Communist Party (ha-Miflagah ha-Komunist ha-Yisra'ilit - MAKI) utilized expressions of solidarity with anti-colonial movements in Angola, the Congo, Vietnam, and Algeria to challenge state policies and assert cultural ties to the Arab world and the global South, helping to further develop an already emerging Palestinian counterpublic in Israel. Though often viewed as politically quiescent and geographically isolated, many Palestinians in Israel prior to 1967 were keenly aware and supportive of anti-colonial movements around the world, largely due to the information they read in local media outlets. As a result, their political sympathies were often at odds with official Israeli positions. In particular we examine the party's two main Arabic-language publications, the semi-weekly newspaper al-Ittihad and the monthly literary journal al-Jadid. These publications reprinted news items from wire services, Soviet propaganda outlets, and regional communist publications, and they became important venues for Palestinian-Israeli writers and intellectuals to express their views. As decolonization movements began gaining ground in the 1960s, Palestinian writers, intellectuals and activists affiliated with MAKI celebrated the anti-colonial movements of the day and compared the situations of newly independent peoples with their own through essays, opinion pieces and poetry written in solidarity with the colonized people. As a result, they helped propel the political discourse within the Palestinian-Israeli community towards a greater anti-colonial stance that became increasingly at odds with Jewish-Israeli political discourses and helped further establish a Palestinian counterpublic in Israel that continues until today.;Submitted: Yes;Refereed: Yes;Type of Presentation: Academic Conference;

Reviews

• Nassar, M. (2014. Review of Zareena Grewal's book, Islam is a Foreign Country in the American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences(pp 87-90).
• Nassar, M. -. (2009. Book Review of Hillel Cohen, Army of Shadows.
  More info

  ;Full Citation: HILLEL COHEN, Army of Shadows: Palestinian Collaboration with Zionism, 1917-1948 (Berkeley,Calif.: University of California Press, 2008). Pp. 352. $29.95 cloth.REVIEWED BY MAHA NASSAR, Department of Near Eastern Studies, University of Arizona,Tucson, Ariz.; e-mail: mtnassar@email.arizona.edudoi:10.1017/S0020743809091314;
• Nassar, M. -. (2007. Adonis, A Time Between Ashes and Roses: Poems. Translation, Critical Arabic Edition and Afterward by Shawkat M. Toorawa.
  More info

  ;Full Citation: Book Review of Shawkat Toorawa (translator), Adonis, A Time between Ashes and Roses: Poems(2004). Journal of Arabic Literature 38, no. 2 (2007), pp. 240-3.;

Other Teaching Materials

• Nassar, M. (2025.

  "Recognizing and responding to Islamophobia"

  . Vector Solutions.
  More info

  I contracted with the national training compancy Vector Solutions to develop an online training tool to help faculty and staff recognize and respond to Islamophobia.