Irene Calis

Irene Calis is a de-colonial scholar, educator, and organizer in the department of Critical Race, Gender, & Culture Studies at American University, DC, where she is also the Director of Arab World Studies. Her research and activism, grounded in the Palestinian liberation struggle, focuses on emancipatory politics from the perspective of everyday life. Her current work on emancipatory futures situates the Palestinian struggle in a wider conversation with the global South, and in particular with indigenous-settler experience and intellectual thought. Calis holds a PhD in anthropology from the London School of Economics & Political Science.

Roundtable Politics

70 Years of Nakba: Where Can Palestinians Go from Here?

May 15, 2018

Palestinians have perhaps never been more in need of a forward-looking vision to shape their struggle. On the Nakba’s 70th anniversary, Al-Shabaka analysts propose visions they contend would resonate with the greatest number of Palestinians – whether one-staters or two, refugees, exiles, citizens of Israel, or those under occupation – and map ways to get from here to there.

Focus Politics

Focus On: When Does It Become Apartheid?

January 23, 2018

Does Israel's treatment of the Palestinian people constitute apartheid? And is apartheid the best framework to apply to Palestine and the Palestinians to achieve freedom, justice, and equality? As 2018 marks 70 years since the Nakba - or catastrophe - began, this collection of Al-Shabaka analysis over the years helps shed light on the debate.

Commentary Politics

Beyond the Apartheid Analogy: Time to Reframe Our Palestinian Struggle

January 13, 2015

The frequent comparisons of Israel with Apartheid South Africa may obscure more fundamental questions Palestinians should be asking. From her present base in today’s South Africa, where “whiteness” still lives on the back of “blackness”, Al-Shabaka Policy Member Irene Calis argues that the post-Apartheid moment should alert Palestinians to take stock and reframe both the form of their campaigns as well as the terms of any proposed resolution.