Work

You are not erased

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Tasked with commentary of Lubna Abu Sitta’s ‘Writing against erasure: a geography of resistance in Gaza’, we can add little to her defiant words. We instead seek to speak alongside Abu Sitta and the geographical community in Gaza she carefully memorialises. As part of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, academic life has been systematically taken apart in the bombing of university buildings and the killing of staff and students. Yet Abu Sitta also teaches us that universities are more than buildings as she carries the inspiration of her killed colleagues and teachers into her current reality of studying via remote methods. With care not to overstate, we read this as a reminder that scholasticide refers to military intent that can only be incomplete in its effects. Abu Sitta and others like her are testament to the defiance and resistance of indigenous intellectual life that is the still-beating heart of universities in Gaza.

Source: Environment and Planning C Politics and Space

DOI: 10.1177/23996544261466055

Authors: Zena Agha, Mark Griffiths

Institution: Newcastle University

Language: English

Topic: Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Peace, justice, and strong institutions, Quality education

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,650