Agency of Indigenous Palestinians in Relation to the Built Landscape | Nadi Abusaada

This conversation is about the spatiality and architecture of occupation. Abusaada talks to us about our very understanding of the land of Palestine, how maps invent geography and not the other way around, and why colonialism should be studied while it’s happening and not when it’s over and done with. We examine the way that humans interact with space – specifically under occupation – as well as the history of the Palestinian landscape and how it has been artificially and purposefully manipulated to further the Israeli agenda of control. This episode was recorded on October 28, 10:42 Palestine time Please note, we're recording special podcast episodes relevant to understanding historical context to what is happening in Palestine. Make sure to check out the other highly informative conversations with guests from completely different disciplines who are generously sharing their time and insight in these dark times. 0:00 Introduction 0:55 Nadi’s background, work and how it relates to Palestine 6:28 Maps invent geography and not the other way around 9:56 Palestine Exploration Fund 13:38 Agency of indigenous Palestinians in relation to the built landscape 17:04 What predated municipalities and the emergence of the nation state 22:18 Vernacular architecture in Palestine and coping with the current situation 31:47 Being Arab in Western institutions & the reception amongst colleagues 34:56 Solidarity with Palestine through work, history and narratives 37:49 Questions that architects should be asking themselves and the importance of the timeliness of certain work 42:00 Aerial bombardment and imaging + dehumanization 47:48 Recommendations for people interested in learning about the use of infrastructure to oppress and control 52:36 Nadi’s upcoming book which addresses regionalism and the relations between Arab countries Dr. Nadi Abusaada is an architect and historian. He is a Zürich Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute for the History and Theory of Architecture (GTA) at the Department of Architecture, ETH Zürich. Prior to moving to Zurich he was an Aga Khan Postdoctoral Fellow in the School of Architecture and Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He completed his PhD and M.Phil degrees at the University of Cambridge and his BA (Hons) at the University of Toronto. Abusaada is also the co-founder of Arab Urbanism which is a global network dedicated to historical and contemporary urban issues in the Arab region. Connect with Nadi 👉   / nadi.saadeh   Hosted by: Mikey Muhanna 👉   / mikey_mu   FOLLOW & RATE THE WATERMELON PODCAST: » Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... » Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1UWCL1I... » Anghami: https://play.anghami.com/podcast/1047... THIS SERIES IS PART OF THE AFIKRA PODCAST NETWORK Explore all episodes in this series:    • This Is Not a Watermelon | Palestinian His...   ABOUT AFIKRA afikra | عفكرة is a movement to convert passive interest in the Arab world to active intellectual curiosity. We aim to collectively reframe the dominant narrative of the region by exploring the histories and cultures of the region – past, present and future – through conversations driven by curiosity. 📍 Local events in 40+ locations worldwide http://afikra.com/chapters 🎧 New podcasts + videos weekly http://afikra.com/podcasts ⚡ Become a member: https://www.afikra.com/membership 🔗 Instagram:   / afikra_   🔗 Facebook:   / afikra.official   🔗 Twitter:   / afikra