Sumud

by Malu Halasa

ISBN: 9781911710127

Published: 2025-01-23

The Arabic word sumud is often loosely translated as 'steadfastness' or 'standing fast.' It is, above all, a Palestinian cultural value of everyday perseverance in the face of Israeli occupation. Sumud is both a personal and collective commitment; people determine their own lives, despite the environment of constant oppressions imposed upon them. This anthology spans the 20th and 21st centuries of Palestinian cultural history, and highlights writing from 2021-2024. The collection of writing and art features work from forty-six contributors including: Dispatches from Hossam Madhoun, co-founder of Gaza's Theatre for Everybody, as he survives the post-October 2023 war on Gaza; novelist Ahmed Masoud with 'Application 39,' a sci-fi short story about a Dystopian bid for the Olympics; Sara Roy and Ivar Ekeland with 'The New Politics of Exclusion: Gaza as Prologue,' an analysis of Israel's divide and conquer policies of fragmentation; historian Ilan Pappe with a review of Tahrir Hamdi's...