Teaching Palestine plus Life and Labour book launch

Come along to The Outhouse, (12A Broughton Street Lane, Edinburgh), for 7pm start on Tuesday 22nd September 2026. There will be some food provided on the table, and you are invited to bring along an item of food to put on the table and take away what is left at the end. The first presentation will be a screening of ‘Teaching Palestine Past and Present’ followed by the book launch of ‘Life and Labour: Contested Occupation and Meaningful Alienation’ published by Bristol University Press focusing on everyday resistance in Palestine.

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### Title of talk:

Teaching Palestine plus Everyday Resistance in Palestine plus Launch the book ‘Life and Labour’

### Bullet points of the event:

• The importance of teaching about Palestine in its historical context
• Overcoming reluctance to teach about Palestine
• Learning about Palestinian everyday resistance to Israeli occupation
• Launch a video of a seminar on teaching Palestine, held at Queen Margaret University
• Launch the book Life and Labour: contested occupation and meaningful alienation, with a focus on a chapter on everyday resistance in Palestine.

### A few paragraphs on your subject:

There will be a screening of the seminar ‘Teaching Palestine: Past and Present’

The seminar at QMU was organised because several academics had raised concerns about teaching about Palestine, especially during the war on Gaza, because of fears of accusations of bias or antisemitism. The seminar presents the history of the Zionist occupation of Palestine and the establishment of the state of Israel, and Palestinian resistance, for example through the case studies of Arthur Balfour’s visit to Palestine in 1925, the Jewish National Fund as a useful tool for teaching about Palestine. The seminar was videoed and will be made publicly available at the Ragged University launch.

About the speakers in the film:

Lesley Orr – Historian: Lesley is a feminist historian, writer and activist, currently based at the University of Edinburgh Centre for Theology and Public Issues (CTPI). She has undertaken groundbreaking historical research on women, Christianity and social change in modern Scotland, including ‘A Unique and Glorious Mission: Women and Presbyterianism in Scotland c.1830 – c.1930. (John Donald/Birlinn 2000). Current research and publication work includes: – war resistance, conscientious objection and peace activism in Scotland 1914-18 – women’s ministry and citizenship in 20th century Scotland The Balfour Declaration (1917) and its legacy – The history of Women’s Aid and the wider movement to address gender based violence in Scotland, from c 1974 – A more general historiographical interest concerning the interface of religious, civic and political life in Scotland, and in radical social movements in 20th century Scotland.

Eurig Scandrett – Senior Lecturer in Sociology, QMU: Dr Eurig Scandrett (BSc, MSc, MPhil, PhD) is a Senior Lecturer in Sociology in the Psychology, Sociology and Education Division. He is a member of the Centre for Applied Social Sciences, Centre for Dialogue and Public Engagement and Public Sociology Research Group.

Manal Shquair – PhD candidate at QMU: Manal Shqair is a Palestinian climate activist and researcher. Currently, she is doing her PhD in sociology at Queen Margaret University, Scotland, where she also teaches undergraduate courses. Her research examines the role of Palestinian semi-nomadic women in Masafer Yatta in resisting Israeli settler colonial dispossession.

Maria Giatsi Clausen – Chair: Dr Maria Giatsi Clausen is a Senior Lecturer in the Occupational Therapy & Arts Therapies Division. She is a full member of the Centre for Person-centred Practice Research and also an associate member of Centre for Applied Social Sciences.
The second part of the event is a book launch and discussion given by Eurig Scandrett and Maria Giatsi Clausen, who are two of the contributors to the screened seminar, are co-editors of the recently published book ‘Life and Labour: Contested Occupation and Meaningful Alienation’.
The book includes a chapter on Decolonising Occupation: Everyday Forms of Resistance in Palestine by Juman Simaan and Mahmoud Soliman, which forms a link to the seminar on Teaching Palestine, and it is an opportunity to celebrate its publication with a book launch.

Abstract to Chapter: Decolonizing Occupation; Everyday Forms of Resistance in Palestine
Authors: Juman Simaan and Mahmoud Soliman

The concept of everyday forms of resistance among Palestinian farmers and shepherds is a decolonial alternative to the western-centric articulation of the concept of ‘occupation’ and ‘occupational justice’ in occupational therapy and occupational science. This discussion of a decolonial ethnographic study by Palestinian scholars-activists point to a collection of practices and values based on daily resistance to the ‘occupational apartheid’ imposed by Israel’s settler-colonialism.
Everyday-forms of resistance include Sutra, which is compared to the Doing-Being conceptualized as an aspect of ‘occupation’ in western occupational therapy discourse; ’Awna, which is compared to the Belonging aspect of ‘occupation’; and Sumud, which is compared to the Belonging-Becoming factors of ‘occupation’. Sutra-’Awna-Sumud are shown through examples from the lives of farmers and shepherds to expand the construct of ‘occupation’ from more collectivist, multidimensional and liberatory understandings of daily lives, which can help scholars and activists concerned with communities’ daily justice in articulating and framing their work from Global South perspectives.

### About The Book

What makes human activity meaningful?

This book explores how social, economic and political forces have shaped the meaning of ‘occupation’ throughout history. Tracing the shift from industrial capitalism’s division of ‘work’ and ‘life,’ it analyses how movements for gender equality, labour rights, decolonization and disability activism have contested what is considered meaningful. From the trade union fight for shorter hours to the feminist reimagining of domestic labour, the book examines the struggles over who defines occupation and for whose benefit. With case studies by activist scholars, this provocative book reveals how conflicts are central to shaping modern social relations.

Book Contents

1: Occupation as Hegemony by Maria Giatsi Clausen and Eurig Scandrett
Preface to Chapter 2: Capitalism and the Labour Movement by Eurig Scandrett and Maria Giatsi Clausen
2: Trade Union Organizing for Life by Eurig Scandrett and Maria Giatsi Clausen
Preface to Chapter 3: Patriarchy and the Feminist Movement by Eurig Scandrett and Maria Giatsi Clausen
3: Gendered Occupation: How the Women’s Movement Has Challenged Sex Inequality in the Labour Market by Shereen Benjamin
Preface to Chapter 4: Colonization and Anticolonial Resistance by Eurig Scandrett and Maria Giatsi Clausen
4: Decolonizing Occupation: Everyday Forms of Resistance in Palestine by Juman Simaan and Mahmoud Soliman
Preface to Chapter 5: Toxicity, Extractivism and the Environmental Movement by Eurig Scandrett and Maria Giatsi Clausen
5: A Decent Environment for All by Eurig Scandrett and Bhopal Survivors’ Movement Study
Preface to Chapter 6: Resistance to a Disabling Society by Eurig Scandrett and Maria Giatsi Clausen
6: Occupation and Disability: Alienation and Affirmation by Colin Cameron
Preface to Chapter 7: ‘Normal’ Occupations and Neurodiversity by Eurig Scandrett and Maria Giatsi Clausen
7: The Autistic People’s Movement: Shifting the Narrative by Sara McHaffie
Preface to Chapter 8: Psych Hegemony and the Mad Movement by Eurig Scandrett and Maria Giatsi Clausen
8: Madness and Occupation by Alex Dunedin, Carmel Schmid and anonymous neurodivergent scholar and advocate (with an introduction and conclusion by Eurig Scandrett)
Preface to Chapter 9: Children, Infrapolitics and Youth Resistance by Eurig Scandrett and Maria Giatsi Clausen
9: Resistance and Formal Schooling: Making a Case for Politicization and the Scholé by Maria Giatsi Clausen
Preface to Chapter 10: Resisting Employment and Alternative Occupation by Eurig Scandrett and Maria Giatsi Clausen
10: Mental Illness, Volunteering and Recovery: Transforming Work towards Human Flourishing by Heather Hunter
Preface to Chapter 11: ‘Professional’ Resistance and Alternative Occupation by Eurig Scandrett and Maria Giatsi Clausen
11: How Do People Talk About Work in Art Therapy? by Chris Wood
12: Conclusion: From Meaningful Alienation to Emancipatory Praxis – The Role of Social Movements by Aline Godoy-Vieira, Maria Giatsi Clausen, and Eurig Scandrett
Click here for book on Bristol University Press

### A few paragraphs about the speakers:

Eurig Scandrett

I have recently retired as a senior lecturer in sociology at Queen Margaret University where I was also a trade union representative with University and College Union. I taught public sociology, especially on gender and environmental issues, and research into social movements and learning. Prior to QMU I spent 15 years in adult and community education in the voluntary sector, including as head of community action at Friends of the Earth Scotland.
I have been active in environmental and global justice movements, and currently with Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign. My recent edited books are Environmental Justice, Popular Struggle and Community Development (2019, with Anne Harley); Public Sociology as Educational Practice: Challenges, Dialogues and CounterPublics (2020); and Life and Labour: Contested Occupation and Meaningful Alienation (2026, with Maria Giatsi Clausen).

Dr Maria Giatsi Clausen

I have a sophisticated understanding of research design and methodologies. This expertise has offered significant opportunities for collaborative working with academics and researchers at QMU in other HEIs. I am also member of the QMU Research Strategy Committee, which is responsible for the development and implementation of the QMU research strategy as well as a member of the Master in Clinical Research (MRes) team. The MRes is a highly innovative award designed to deliver the criteria in the Vitae framework for people who aspire to criteria for recognition, such as a Senior Fellow of HEA.

My activities extend beyond collaboration within QMU, to external collaboration with the universities of Aberdeen, Edinburgh, and Heriot-Watt. My collaboration with the Scottish Longitudinal Study (SLS) has led to a study exploring the links between preterm birth, socio-economic variables and educational outcomes. The scope and impact of this large cohort study (32,000 participants) have been reviewed and endorsed by the SLS, and the project will commence in summer 2016.

I represent the Division of OT & ATs in the recently launched Graduate School Academic Board, and I play an instrumental role in maximizing the quality of the doctorate student experience, and promoting an inclusive and interdisciplinary research environment for doctorate students through reviewing research proposals, and partaking in decision making in relation to progression and examination outcomes. I have been involved in doctorate supervision for over four years, have one doctorate completion and I am currently involved in supervising two doctorate students. I have, for the past few years, also been delivering research seminars at the Welcome Trust Clinical Research Facility.

### What free internet knowledge resources would you recommend ?

Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign
www.scottishpsc.org.uk