Sarah El Bulbeisi: Palestine, Germany: Trauma and Taboos

Sarah El Bulbeisi is a Palestinian-Swiss anthropologist. She joined the OIB in November 2019 after completing her PhD at the Institute for Near and Middle East Studies at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany. Before joining the OIB, she led the research project “Violence, Forced Migration and Exile: Trauma in the Arab World and in Germany”, a Higher Education Dialogue between Palestinian and Lebanese universities as well as with the LMU Munich. Prior to that, she worked as a lecturer and research associate at the Institute for Near and Middle East Studies at the LMU Munich. Her PhD thesis “Taboo, Trauma and Identity: Subject Constructions of Palestinians in Germany and Switzerland, 1960 to 2015” draws on conversations, life stories and participant observation and explores the consequences of the tabooing of Palestinian experiences of violence and Palestinian identity on Palestinians in Germany and Switzerland and on their intergenerational relationships. Sarah El Bulbeisi’s postdoc research at the OIB revolves around the interrelations between systemic violence and family & intimate relations in Lebanon. She will talk about her intellectual and professional trajectory and particularly how today a young researcher who wrote on a controversial topic can navigate hostile media and stifling environment of academic freedom in Europe.