Engineering and Design events
Book Talk – Recognition Politics in Settler Colonial States
Wednesday 26 November 15:00 until 16:30
University of Sussex Campus : Jubilee Building, Room 144, University of Sussex
Part of the series: Palestine Interdisciplinary Dialogues

Contrary to the common view of recognition as an asset sought by Indigenous communities, Dr Emile Badarin demonstrates how settlers and settler-colonial states actively pursue recognition as a strategy to legitimise dispossession and eliminate Indigenous societies.
The book critically examines categories of race, racism and racial hierarchies within Euromodern thought, and explores how anti-Zionism has been strategically equated with anti-Semitism to advance settler-colonialism in Palestine and secure Israel’s recognition internationally.
Central to the discussion is the Palestinian practice of sumud (steadfastness), understood here as a philosophy of liberation and a pathway towards a decolonial future in Palestine and beyond.
Speaker
Dr Emile Badarin – born and raised in Palestine, he holds a PhD in Middle East Politics from the University of Exeter. He is the author of Palestinian Political Discourse (2016) and has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals on international and Middle East politics and the Question of Palestine.
Discussant
Prof Alan Lester – historical geographer, University of Sussex
All are welcome
By: James Andrews
Last updated: Monday, 6 October 2025