Black-Palestinian Transnational Solidarity: Renewals, Returns, and Practice
Author: 
Noura Erakat
Marc Lamont Hill
Digital Section: 
Essays
Special Feature: 
Black-Palestinian Transnational Solidarity
Keywords: 
Black-Palestinian
Black
Palestinian
Solidarity
transnationalism
Ferguson
Gaza
racism
settler colonialism
anti-blackness
Palestine
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Abstract: 

This introductory essay outlines the context for this special issue of the Journal of Palestine Studies on Black-Palestinian transnational solidarity (BPTS). Through the analytic of “renewal,” the authors point to the recent increase in individual and collective energies directed toward developing effective, reciprocal, and transformative political relationships within various African-descendant and Palestinian communities around the world. Drawing from the extant BPTS literature, this essay examines the prominent intellectual currents in the field and points to new methodologies and analytics that are required to move the field forward. With this essay, the authors aim not only to contextualize the field and to frame this special issue, but also to chart new directions for future intellectual and political work.

Author biography: 

Noura Erakat is a human rights attorney and an assistant professor at Rutgers University, New Brunswick. Her research interests include humanitarian law, refugee law, national security law, and critical race theory. Erakat is a Cofounding Editor of Jadaliyya e-zine and an editorial committee member of the Journal of Palestine Studies. She is the author of Justice for Some: Law and the Question of Palestine (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2019).

Marc Lamont Hill is the Steve Charles Professor of Media, Cities, and Solutions at Temple University. His research interests include race in the Middle East, Black-Palestinian transnational solidarity, prison education, and digital counter publics. He is the author of multiple books, including Nobody: Casualties of America’s War on the Vulnerable, from Ferguson to Flint and Beyond (New York: Atria Books, 2016).