Representations of Palestine in Egyptian Cinema

Acknowledgments

The first seeds of this project were unknowingly sown 8 years ago when I was lucky enough to study in Palestine for a year and immerse myself in Palestinian literature and cinema. The book’s current shape, however, is the product of an ongoing learning trajectory, informed by many classes and readings, generous scholars and academics, and conversations with peers and neighbors who have all left traces in my thinking and writing.

Many people have been directly or indirectly involved in the gestation and development of this project. To begin with, I would like to thank the two series editors, Dr. Terri Ginsberg and Dr. Chris Lippard, for encouraging and supporting this publication, as well as Peter Lang Publishing for their institutional support.

This project would not have come into being, let alone developed, without the consistent encouragement and mentorship of Dr. Terri Ginsberg, whose course on Palestinian cinema at The American University in Cairo (AUC) first inspired this project, and whose film theoretical scholarship and ongoing conversations with me about cinema and politics have brought ideas, form and structure to my research.

I would also like to thank Dr. Surti Singh, who generously supervised an Andrew Mellon Grant post-MA fellowship at AUC that allowed me to begin working on this publication.

At my current institution, Concordia University, Dr. Masha Salazkina has offered valuable time and constructive feedback, which significantly helped me improve earlier drafts of this manuscript. Dr. Kay Dickinson’s insightful class on Arab revolution cinema and feedback on my research and writing have contributed further sources of inspiration and support, for which I am very grateful.

I would also like to thank Viviane Saglier, Chloe Bordewich, Giuseppe Fidotta, Sima Kokotović and Ilona Jurkonytė for closely reading draft chapters and providing generative feedback that have undoubtedly improved the final product and have pushed me to deepen my research and writing skills.

To the many professors and teachers from whom I have had the privilege to learn during the past few years, many thanks for your valuable insights, scholarship, and intellectual generosity. At AUC, I was fortunate to be in the classes of several exceptional professors, whose scholarship—even though at the time I had no idea I would go on to write a book—laid the foundations for my ongoing interests and interdisciplinary inclinations, and who always pointed me in the right direction while I was still finding my feet intellectually. While this work may not directly line up with their own scholarly interests and expertise, or necessarily reflect their views, I owe my sincere gratitude to Drs. Iman Hamam, Pascale Ghazaleh, Ferial Ghazoul, Samia Mehrez, and Samah Selim who, each in her own way, contributed immensely to my intellectual growth. I would also like to thank film critic and scholar, Nour El Safoury, whose highly engaging course on Egyptian popular cinema at the Cairo Institute of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CILAS) added many more ideas and layers to my knowledge as I continued to learn much more about this rich cinematic tradition.

Without the patience and kindness of Radwa Wassim working at AUC’s Middle East Studies Center, I would likely not have persevered throughout challenging writing times. I would also like to thank my fellow peers and friends, many of whom were either around in the earliest stages of this project or offered emotional support and laughter in the later writing stages: Norhan, Nourhan, Diana, Sara, Nesma, Mai, Nada, and Hoza, as well as my flatmates and friends Ayah, Banan, Rasha, Heba, Amany, Jomana, Khaled, Inji, Ingy, Mo, Isabella, Yulia, Paolo, Alexandra, Naima—and not to forget my dearest neighbors, Iman, Halima and Jakob.

Living a bit of a nomadic existence has meant that a lot of friends live further afield or have only recently come into my life, but every one of them has in different capacities supported me along the way. Thanks to Lamisse, Imane, Fatima, Raffi, Ricarda, Laura, Saffa, Aurelia, Rahel, my PhD cohort at Concordia, Fadi and Lilia for welcoming me to Montreal, as well as Afshan for her generosity and the writing group for offering consistent motivation.

Finally, thanks to my family for always being there, showing unconditional support and fostering my early interest in language, literature and cinema.