Technology, Justice, & Creative Practice
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Palestinian Identity Through Dance
Al-Sheir Hall, Al-Quds University, Palestine. Hosted by Al-Quds Bard College.
Noora Baker, Head of Production at El-Funoun Palestinian Popular Dance Troupe, and member since 1987, discussed the history, vision and mission of El-Funoun, charting its role in reviving Palestinian dance and music folklore since its inception in 1979, as well as in creating new forms of movement and dance that are unique to Palestine.
14:00 - 14:10: Introduction by Hala Alanani (AQB Student)
14:10 - 14:20: Introduction by moderator Al-Quds Bard Saida is a Lecturer and Head of the Media Studies at Al-Quds Bard (AQB). She majored in English Literature at Arizona State University for her BA and later obtained a Master's Degree in International Studies at BirZeit University. She has nearly thirty years of experience as a distinguished journalist and Media and Communication Specialist in some of the most leading organizations, including the World Bank, AL Hayat Newspaper (London-based), TF1 (French TV), ABC News, and ITN. Throughout her years of experience, Saida has accumulated a wide range of knowledge in the world of media and a diverse set of communication and analytical skills, of which she passionately transferred to her students at AQB. Saida’s teaching experience at Palestinian universities, including AL Quds Open University and BirZeit University (BZU) enhanced her commitment to further pursue and build her career in the academic field, promote knowledge and critical thinking skills, challenge the traditional media teaching methods in Palestine, and create new programs that enable students to creatively express themselves as journalists and reach a wider audience. Joining AQB as a lecturer and head of the Media Studies program in the Humanities Practicing Arts Division in 2019, Saida attracted 40 students to the Introduction of Media Studies course. Given her experience and expertise in journalism, Saida revised the entire Media Studies program to further enhance the AQB’s innovative liberal arts education approach. This included adding new interdisciplinary courses, restructuring the academic plan, and diversifying topics across the department to meet the new challenges of the world of Media. She invited high-level guest speakers to AQB, thereby connecting the college more directly to the Palestinian media community in general. As head of the media program, Saida has incorporated excellent visiting faculty to strengthen the program and has an active role in several pedagogy and organizational College Committees. With the collaboration from her colleagues, Saida is now leading the creation of the Online Bilingual Art & Culture multimedia Journal Hannoon. The journal aims to critically engages Palestinian artistic and cultural life across its many forms and fora. Before joining AQB, Saida lectured at Birzeit University (BZU) where she focused on integrating Information Technology, namely Web, Data, and Mobile journalism, with classic journalism. Specifically, Saida developed new interactive teaching methods in which students simulate a daily “editorial meeting” where they collectively overview and discuss local and international news, and work on writing their own news pieces. Moreover, she introduced the concept of multimedia production of news in the Journalism Lab, where students had to produce both infographic and video-graphic materials to reach a wider range of audience in the world of new media. During her time at BZU, Saida worked with her students to create, write, design, and publish two magazines per semester. These courses provided the students with realistic, interactive, practical, and fundamental tools to utilize in their future careers. Prior to teaching at BZU, she worked as a Chief Editor and Programs Director and Presenter at Wattan Palestinian TV station. Saida also worked as a Results Reporting and Communications Specialist for the USAID Palestinian Health Sector Reform and Development Project (2009- 2011). In 2009, she also worked as a Project Director with the USAID/NETHAM where she worked on Palestinian media in law and court reporting. Before then, Saida was the External Affairs and Communications Officer for the World Bank in Jerusalem. Saida was the Bureau Chief for Alhayat-LBC for nine years in which she covered the Israeli-Palestinian conflict including reporting live coverage of daily events and special exclusive interviews, Investigative reporting, analytical features in addition to managing field reporters in Gaza and Haifa. Moreover, Saida conducted exclusive interviews with prominent political, social and economic figures under highly dangerous and critical situations including late President Arafat (when he was besieged and before and after) and president Mahmoud Abbas. She has also covered Abbas' famous visit to the White House after he was appointed as a Prime minister. Furthermore, she covered The Hague Court rolling on the Israeli Wall being built on the West Bank Land. This included live coverage plus in-depth reportage. Saida also worked as a Producer for the T.F.1 in Jerusalem for 12 years and contributed to other news-outlets such as ABC News, Monte Carlo Radio Station, Al-Quds Press International, Palestine Press Service, and Al-Fajr English Newspaper.Saida Hamad
14:20 - 15:00: Noora Baker and El-Funoun Video
15:00 - 15:20: Q&A moderated by Al-Quds Bard Saida is a Lecturer and Head of the Media Studies at Al-Quds Bard (AQB). She majored in English Literature at Arizona State University for her BA and later obtained a Master's Degree in International Studies at BirZeit University. She has nearly thirty years of experience as a distinguished journalist and Media and Communication Specialist in some of the most leading organizations, including the World Bank, AL Hayat Newspaper (London-based), TF1 (French TV), ABC News, and ITN. Throughout her years of experience, Saida has accumulated a wide range of knowledge in the world of media and a diverse set of communication and analytical skills, of which she passionately transferred to her students at AQB. Saida’s teaching experience at Palestinian universities, including AL Quds Open University and BirZeit University (BZU) enhanced her commitment to further pursue and build her career in the academic field, promote knowledge and critical thinking skills, challenge the traditional media teaching methods in Palestine, and create new programs that enable students to creatively express themselves as journalists and reach a wider audience. Joining AQB as a lecturer and head of the Media Studies program in the Humanities Practicing Arts Division in 2019, Saida attracted 40 students to the Introduction of Media Studies course. Given her experience and expertise in journalism, Saida revised the entire Media Studies program to further enhance the AQB’s innovative liberal arts education approach. This included adding new interdisciplinary courses, restructuring the academic plan, and diversifying topics across the department to meet the new challenges of the world of Media. She invited high-level guest speakers to AQB, thereby connecting the college more directly to the Palestinian media community in general. As head of the media program, Saida has incorporated excellent visiting faculty to strengthen the program and has an active role in several pedagogy and organizational College Committees. With the collaboration from her colleagues, Saida is now leading the creation of the Online Bilingual Art & Culture multimedia Journal Hannoon. The journal aims to critically engages Palestinian artistic and cultural life across its many forms and fora. Before joining AQB, Saida lectured at Birzeit University (BZU) where she focused on integrating Information Technology, namely Web, Data, and Mobile journalism, with classic journalism. Specifically, Saida developed new interactive teaching methods in which students simulate a daily “editorial meeting” where they collectively overview and discuss local and international news, and work on writing their own news pieces. Moreover, she introduced the concept of multimedia production of news in the Journalism Lab, where students had to produce both infographic and video-graphic materials to reach a wider range of audience in the world of new media. During her time at BZU, Saida worked with her students to create, write, design, and publish two magazines per semester. These courses provided the students with realistic, interactive, practical, and fundamental tools to utilize in their future careers. Prior to teaching at BZU, she worked as a Chief Editor and Programs Director and Presenter at Wattan Palestinian TV station. Saida also worked as a Results Reporting and Communications Specialist for the USAID Palestinian Health Sector Reform and Development Project (2009- 2011). In 2009, she also worked as a Project Director with the USAID/NETHAM where she worked on Palestinian media in law and court reporting. Before then, Saida was the External Affairs and Communications Officer for the World Bank in Jerusalem. Saida was the Bureau Chief for Alhayat-LBC for nine years in which she covered the Israeli-Palestinian conflict including reporting live coverage of daily events and special exclusive interviews, Investigative reporting, analytical features in addition to managing field reporters in Gaza and Haifa. Moreover, Saida conducted exclusive interviews with prominent political, social and economic figures under highly dangerous and critical situations including late President Arafat (when he was besieged and before and after) and president Mahmoud Abbas. She has also covered Abbas' famous visit to the White House after he was appointed as a Prime minister. Furthermore, she covered The Hague Court rolling on the Israeli Wall being built on the West Bank Land. This included live coverage plus in-depth reportage. Saida also worked as a Producer for the T.F.1 in Jerusalem for 12 years and contributed to other news-outlets such as ABC News, Monte Carlo Radio Station, Al-Quds Press International, Palestine Press Service, and Al-Fajr English Newspaper.Saida Hamad
