Dr. Nada Elia will be the keynote speaker for the 28th Annual Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Student Research Symposium on Friday, April 25, which features the work of over 45 Illinois State University students.

Elia, who teaches in the Department of Ethnic Studies at Western Washington University, will present “Gender and Genocide: A Palestinian Feminist Perspective” at 1:30 p.m. in the Prairie Room of the Bone Student Center at Illinois State. In her address, she will explore the weaponization of Western imperial feminism to legitimize genocide and ignore numerous reports documenting widespread sexual violence against Palestinians. Fundamental to colonialism, gender and sexual violence are not just within the private sphere but also comes in the form of state violence. As a content warning, please note the speaker will discuss sexual violence during militarized conflict, with multiple references to rape and other forms of gender violence.

The symposium celebrates student scholarship, creative work, and ideas underrepresented in Illinois State University’s traditional curriculum. The day-long program of 14 student panels, moderated by faculty members, is punctuated by an awards banquet and keynote speaker and numerous opportunities for student-faculty engagement and networking.

Registration is open. Those interested can use the registration form to RSVP. All events are free and open to the public. If you need an accommodation to fully participate in the symposium, please contact WGSS at (309) 438-2947 or wgstudies@IllinoisState.edu.

The WGSS Symposium is sponsored by the Alice and Fannie Fell Trust; College of Arts and Sciences; Department of Criminal Justice Sciences; Department of English; Department of Geography, Geology, and the Environment; Harold K. Sage Fund; Office of International Engagement; Milner Library; Department of Philosophy; Department of Politics and Government; Department of Psychology; School of Social Work; Department of Sociology and Anthropology; School of Theatre, Dance, and Film; and the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program.

Nada Elia

Learn more about Nada Elia, associate professor of ethnic studies, specializing in transnational, decolonial, and gender struggles, with a focus on Arab America and Palestine. She has published numerous editorials about Palestine, gender, activism, and transnational struggles in Mondoweiss, Middle East Eye, and The New Arab. 

A scholar-activist, Elia is a member of the Palestinian Feminist Collective and the author of Greater than the Sum of Our Parts: Feminism, Inter/Nationalism, and Palestine; Palestine: Un feminism de liberation; as well as Trances, Dances, and Vociferations: Agency and Resistance in Africana Women’s Narratives. She is currently completing a third single-authored book, Falastiniyyat: A Century of Palestinian Feminisms. Her books, in French and English, have been translated into Spanish, Italian, and Catalan.  

She has co-edited Critical Ethnic Studies: A Reader, the INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence Activist Toolkit, as well as the award-winning The Revolution Will Not Be Funded, and has contributed chapters to numerous anthologies, including, most recently, Palestine: A Socialist Introduction.