Nahida Gordon Book Release
Saturday, September 17, 2016 - 2:00pm
Address:
The Wooster Book Company
205 W Liberty St
Wooster, OH 44691
Presented By: Nahida Gordon
Do you want to hear and learn about a people who have suffered loss and through perseverance continue to long for freedom and peace? Come to the Wooster Book Company on September 17 at 2 pm to listen to readings from Wooster’s Nahida Gordon's new book, Palestine Is Our Home: Voices of Loss, Courage, and Steadfastness. The book is available at through the Wooster Book Company or amazon.com.
Nahida Gordon, an Elder at Westminster Presbyterian Church, survived the 1948 Palestinian Nakba (catastrophe) and immigrated as a child with her family to the United States. Fifty years ago she and her husband, Donald Gordon, moved to Wooster where they raised their family and now are retired. In the narrative, “Yafa, My Home”, Professor Gordon narratives her experiences during the Nakba while living in Jaffa (Yafa in Arabic). And in the intervening years, both she and her husband have been active in church and interfaith activities speaking on behalf of freedom and justice for Palestine.
Within the pages of Palestine Is Our Home: Voices of Loss, Courage, and Steadfastness, are the memories of Palestinians – mothers and fathers, husbands and wives, pastors, physicians, prisoners, professors, refugees, researchers, students, teachers, and university administrators living either in Palestine, in refugee camps, or in exile. The reader can see that even though they have suffered loss they have kept their identity as Palestinians, and their culture vibrant and alive. It is hoped that in meeting these Palestinians, the reader will understand their suffering and loss, be inspired by their brave pursuit of freedom and peace, and most importantly to join in supporting them as they struggle for justice.
Palestine Is Our Home presents a contemporary history of Palestine and the narratives are organized into the districts of Palestine from which the narrator originated. The narrative for each district begins with a short essay describing the district and some of its experiences during the Nakba or Naksa (day of the setback in 1967). The essay is then followed by narratives of the book’s many contributors. Following the narratives, two chapters add depth and breadth to the depiction of Palestinian culture by presenting the liberation art of Palestine and expounding on the origins of the traditional Palestinian costume. Four tables and over 60 images (maps, photographs including Palestinian works of art, traditional costumes, and embroidery) serve as brilliant illustrations of the narratives in this book.
In the words of Dr. Hanan Ashrawi, founder and chairwoman of the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy (www.miftah,org)
“Within [this book], one can experience first-hand the pathos, resilience, and aspirations of the Palestinian collective through the narratives of individual Palestinians who have undergone the tragedy of dispossession, denial, and exile. The very intimacy of these revelations, their searing honesty, and their unassuming humanity compel the reader to engage in the challenge of awareness through identification, and to acquire that uncomfortable, yet essential, knowledge that has hitherto been denied or excluded or distorted. The simple truth, often the most complex reality to convey, is laid bare in Palestine is Our Home for all those who want to shed the complacency of ignorance in favor of the responsibility of knowledge.”
Indeed, Nahida Gordon’s classic work has the power to resonate for years to come, harkening back to the voice of a people who will not be forgotten while reminding us that only awareness can hold ignorance in check.
Come to the Wooster Book Company, September 17 at 2 pm to listen to readings from the new book, Palestine Is Our Home: Voices of Loss, Courage, and Steadfastness and join the discussion!
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