Alienation and Colonialism in Palestine: The West Bank Laborers in Israel and the Israeli Settlements

Wed, February 4, 2026 11:30 AM at 457 Berkey Hall

Abstract: 

Marxist sociology should do more to examine the interaction between Marxism and colonialism, including offering a timely critique of the current structures of settler colonialism. Accordingly, my dissertation project investigates how Marx's analysis of alienation can be expanded to the colonial context of Palestine to explain the conditions of Palestinian everyday life, exploitation, and humiliation, using the "occupied" labor in Israel and its illegal settlements as a case study. Through a combination of theoretical and empirical sociological approaches that account for the interaction between coloniality, labour, identity, and racial capitalism, I hope that my work contributes to the analysis of the applicability of Marx to our contemporary days, along with the efforts of boosting a decolonized narrative to benefit the trends towards a critical and liberated sociology in and for Palestine.

Zoom option: https://msu.zoom.us/j/98987802840