Show Notes
Stephen Sheehi joins me to talk about his text Camera Palaestina, a critical exploration of Jerusalemite chronicler Wasif Jawhariyyeh (1904–1972) and his seven photography albums entitled The Illustrated History of Palestine. We have an expansive conversation, talking not only about the collection but the historical context in which they were collected, and how these images and the history around them tell us about Palestine, and the struggle against colonial erasure and genocide. During our conversation we talk about a few images. You can click the link to images below and follow along! Pic 1 Pic 2 Pic 3 Pic 4 Stephen Sheehi is the Sultan Qaboos Professor of Middle East Studies at William & Mary in Arabic Studies, Asian and Middle East Studies and Asian and Pacific Islander American Studies. He is also Professor Extraordinarius at the Institute for Social and Health Sciences at the University of South Africa (UNISA). He has written a number of books, articles and book chapters around Arab photography and cultural history, Palestine and Palestinian studies, psychoanalysis and settler colonialism, race, anti-Arab racism and Islamophobia, and, more recently, gender and sexuality in Southwest Asia and the Global South. Most recently, he is co-author with Lara Sheehi, Psychoanalysis Under Occupation: Practicing Resistance in Palestine (Routledge, 2022), which was awarded the 2022 Palestine Book Award. He is also the author of Camera Palestina (University of California Press, 2022) with Salim Tamari and Issam Nassar. He current research project is entitled Intimacies of Guerillas: Queer Objects of Palestinian Liberation. To get a jump on the shows a few days early, bonus video episodes every month, deeper dives into text and works with revolutionary content and political art study groups check out Mtume's Patreon and become a subscriber! Additionally, check out my new colaboration The Imperial 80's, a series I co-hosted with Jared Ware of Millenials are Killing Capitalism. We take a dive into the wild world of 80's Hollywood and uncover what it has to say about this imperial project called The United States. You can find us on Patreon and make sure to follow the channel if you want to catch the livestreams Tumes
More from Within Our Gates
This episode I am once again solo style! Answering (great) questions from my Patreon listeners, and it all kind of ended up being under the hood of Materialist Dialectics and how it can help us look at the arts. Some of it explicit, some of it implicit. Thanks to all who submitted questions! Please send some more responses so we can keep the conversation going!
Peace Comrades! For this episode I have with me Alice Lovejoy to discuss her book Tales of Militant Chemistry: The Film Factory in a Century of War. The book is "the untold story of film as a chemical cousin to poison gas and nuclear weapons, shaped by centuries of violent extraction. Following scientists, soldiers, prisoners, and spies through Kodak's and Agfa's global empires, Alice Lovejoy links the golden age of cinema and photography to colonialism, the military-industrial complex, radioactive dust, and toxic waste. Revelatory and chilling,Tales of Militant Chemistry shows how film became a weapon whose chemistry irrevocably shaped the world we live in today."
For this episode happy to have with me Steven Osuna to talk about the legendary film Memories of Underdevelopment by late Cuban Filmmaker and theorist Tomas Tomás Gutiérrez Alea. Alea was a major figure in cinema, and in the development of Cuban cinema and culture in the early days of the revolution until his death in 1996. A prolific filmmaker, cinematic theorist and cultural leader who was one of the founders of the Instituto Cubano del Arte e Industria Cinematográficos (ICAIC). While he made many incredible films, Memories of Underdevelopment is one that is most known, and often is misrepresented here in the imperial core, as a film critical Cuba's socialist revolution. Steven and I look at the film from the revolutionary socialist perspective it was made in and look to challenge the revision that has been attempted towards the film and Aleas legacy overall. Memories of Underdevelopment stands as one of the great analysis of the concept of underdevelopment that comes out of Marxist theory.
For this episode I am joined by Lara Sheehi, someone if you have been paying attention to these anti-imperialist airwaves you have def seen, and if you aren't yet familiar with Lara's work you are def in for something truly substantial, and can't miss this episode. Lara, who is one the true counter hegemonic forces in the world of psychoanalysis helps me untangle questions around the ideas of narrative, and documentation within the imperial nexus and the pernicious liberal project of humanization. I also ask Lara to help me unpack a bit how and possibly why psychoanalysis is popular in Film Studies these days. Its a great convo and Im sure you will ALL enjoy! Lara Sheehi is a Research Fellow at the University of South Africa's Institute for Social and Health Sciences, a licensed clinical psychologist, and the host of the Psychic Militancy podcast. Lara's work focuses on psychoanalysis, the psychic refusals central to liberation struggles and life-making in the Global South, the psychic dimensions of resistance and revolution, and critical Zionism studies. She is co-author with Stephen Sheehi of Psychoanalysis Under Occupation: Practicing Resistance in Palestine (Routledge, 2022) which won the Middle East Monitor's 2022 Palestine Book Award for Best Academic Book. Lara is a member of the founding collective for the Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism and is on the advisory board for Forensic Architecture. Her new book, From the Clinic to the Streets: Psychoanalysis for Revolutionary Futures will be released by Pluto Press in May 2026.
For this episode I am solo! I dive into a Patreon members extended question on Third Cinema and how can we envision it for today. It was a rather capacious set of questions so I felt it would be good to set aside some time to jump into the topic more thoroughly as it connects to a lot my current theoretical work that I am developing. In general I plan on doing these solo episodes once a quarter (at least) and will do at least a section of it focused on listener questions! And don't worry, Ill be back with folks for guest episodes very soon. To get a jump on the shows a few days early, bonus video episodes every month, deeper dives into text and works with revolutionary content and political art study groups check out Mtume's Patreon and become a subscriber! Additionally, check out my new colaboration The Imperial 80's, a series I co-hosted with Jared Ware of Millenials are Killing Capitalism. We take a dive into the wild world of 80's Hollywood and uncover what it has to say about this imperial project called The United States. You can find us on Patreon and make sure to follow the channel if you want to catch the livestreams Tumes