[Co-sponsored by Friends of Birzeit University]

About the speaker:

Mazin Qumsiyeh PhD (Texas Tech University); MSc (University of Connecticut); BSc (University of Jordan) teaches and conducts research at Bethlehem and Bir Zeit universities in Palestine. He is director of the Palestine Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainability at Bethlehem University and the Palestine Museum of Natural History (see https://www.palestinenature.org).

Mazin grew up in Beit Sahour, near Bethlehem. After many years in academia in the USA, where he served on the faculties of Tennessee, Duke, and Yale Universities, he returned to Palestine in 2008. Besides his academic work he is passionate about public education on ecology and the environment, and about human rights, which are intrinsic to the philosophy of the Palestine Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainability. His team has studied decline in biodiversity, the cytogenetics of animals and humans in Palestine, and the genotoxic impact of Israeli settlements. His weekly email blog on issues ranging from human rights to environmental conservation reaches tens of thousands. In 2011, he received the Social Courage Award from the Peace and Justice Studies Association and the Gandhi King Conference in Memphis, Tennessee.

Professor Qumsiyeh has published extensively on topics ranging from biodiversity to cancer, as well as over 200 refereed articles on social science, history, and environmental justice. His books include:

Mammals of the Holy Land (Texas Tech Press, 1996)
Sharing the Land of Canaan: human rights and the Israeli/Palestinian Struggle (Pluto Press, London and Stirling, Virginia, 2004) (English, Spanish, and German)
Popular Resistance in Palestine: A history of Hope and Empowerment (Pluto Press, London, 2010) (Arabic, English, French, forthcoming in Italian)

His book on activism is e-published on his website (http://qumsiyeh.org).