An IASH Work-in-Progress seminar, delivered by Farah Saleh (Postdoctoral Fellow, 2023)
Balfour Reparations (2023-2043)
Farah Saleh will present her Work-in-Progress seminar in the form of a lecture performance. She will investigate ways of confronting Edinburgh University’s colonial legacy, particularly the role of Arthur James Balfour, the University Chancellor (1891-1930), in the colonization of Palestine and historical denial of Palestinian political rights. Saleh will do that through elements of Fabulation and Afrofuturism that combine history, fiction and fantasy, while engaging with and being inspired by archival material, such as videos, photos, and documents, in part retrieved from the Centre for Research Collections. The performance lecture will take place in 2043 to reflect on the fictive apology letter that the University of Edinburgh will have issued in 2023 to the Palestinian people promising them reparations. The audience will become members of the reparations’ evaluation committee created on the 20thanniversary of the apology and will be invited to participate in the performance. The research and performance are in collaboration with filmmaker Lucas Kao, dancers Nadia Khattab and Jamal Bajali, and Senior Lecturer Nicola Perugini (Politics and International Relations, University of Edinburgh).
Please Note: This Work-in-Progress will take place at Inspace (1 Crichton Street, Edinburgh, EH8 9AB) and will be in-person attendance only.