Aspiring for a Decolonized World, FIB Unpad Collaborates with Palestinian Scholar
On 22 August 2024, the Faculty of Cultural Sciences (“Fakultas Ilmu Budaya” or FIB) at Universitas Padjadjaran hosted a guest lecture entitled “Asian-African Anti-Colonialism and the Arab World.” The lecture was given by Dr. Anaheed Al-Hardan, associate professor of sociology at Howard University as a part of collaborative research with FIB’s Center for Literary, Cultural, and Historical Studies.
The event was opened by FIB Dean Aquarini Priyatna, and moderated by the Director of FIB’s Center for Literary, Cultural, and Historical Studies, Dr. Ida Farida Sachmadi. The Chair of English Studies, Dr. Ari Adipurwawidjana, as well as other FIB lecturers were also present in this well-attended, engaging, and relevant lecture on colonialism and anticolonialism in the Arab world.
It was notable that, despite the early morning lecture, many FIB students, ranging from first-year undergraduates to second-year postgraduates, attended and participated in the conversation about colonialism and anticolonialism in the present.
Dr. Al-Hardan began her lecture by discussing her research on historical anti-colonial actors that were connected to the larger context of the Asian-African collective struggle that began in the Asian-African Conference in Bandung in 1955. The historical event was the result of at the preceding half a century of anticolonial and antiimperialist organizing, Dr. Al-Hardan argued. More specifically, she centered the role of Cairo in this struggle after the watershed meeting in Bandung. This research focus is relevant to many capstone projects and research focus of both students and lecturers at FIB who attended the lecture.
“The question of Palestine existed alongside other important anti-colonial struggles in the African-Asian world,” Dr. Al-Hardan said. The contemporary struggle for Palestinian national liberation became the most popular topic of students’ engagement with the Visiting Scholar and the lecture. Among their questions and comments, students asked about the daily hardships Palestinians faced and how they could engage others in the conversation about colonialism and anticolonialism in the world. .
Although decolonization is far from complete in the Arab world, Dr. Al-Hardan ends the lecture on a hopeful note . She argued that today, we are living in the midst of unprecedented developments in Palestine that are leading to a global generational change in how people see colonial powers and the unfinished business of decolonization in the Arab world. In line with FIB’s aspirations for a better world, she concluded by stating that “we have to fight for the world we want, free from colonialism, free from colonial domination–where people can have human dignity and live as equal human beings.”
Writer: Jauza Maryam Mumtazah
