03/02/2026
Join us today for a hybrid seminar by Dr Pietro Stefanini (University of Edinburgh) in which he will discuss tracing a genealogy of the relationship between humanitarianism and settler colonialism, from the period of British imperial rule in Palestine to present-day.
Date - 2 February 2026
Venue - Room LG.09, 40 George Square
Speakers - Dr Pietro Stefanini (University of Edinburgh)
Title - Making Colonisation Humanitarian: A Genealogy of Settler Humanitarianism in Palestine/Israel
Pietro Stefanini will discuss a book manuscript project, which deploys archival and ethnographic methods to trace a genealogy of the relationship between humanitarianism and settler colonialism, from the period of British imperial rule in Palestine, through the 1948 Nakba and 1967 Naksa, to the contemporary conjuncture and the genocide in Gaza.
The book illustrates a settler colonial modality of humanitarianism along two main axes: enabling the continuous reproduction of the settler society; and providing a mechanism for the dispossession of the Palestinian people. It demonstrates how, rather than constituting a constant dynamic throughout a century-long historical arc, the settler form of humanitarianism gains particular prominence during moments of crisis, disruptions of populations (both settler and native), and peaks in colonial violence.
The event is co-badged with The Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities (IASH).
https://llc.ed.ac.uk/islamic-and-middle-eastern-studies/imes-seminar-series-260202
