Part of the Practice
What is social practice, and how does it affect the ways we navigate our lives and make change in the world? Join artists, scholars, and collaborators from Social Practice CUNY on Part of the Practice, hosted by Catherine LaSota, as we discuss our individual art practices, our communities, and the role of socially-engaged art in our work for social justice.
Part of the Practice
32: A Continuity of Discontinuities with Chris Harding
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This episode features a conversation with Chris Harding (2024-25 SPCUNY Student Actionist Fellow), who is a Ph.D. candidate in the History Department at the City University of New York Graduate Center. His work focuses on themes relating to capitalism, class, labor and agrarian life in Mandate Palestine, and his work was featured in the Biennale di Venezia in 2024. In this conversation with host Catherine LaSota, you'll hear about Chris's time learning Arabic and living and working in Palestine in 2022-23, as well as the projects he's worked on in Bethlehem with Dar Jacir and his ongoing research. Chris also discusses how his interest and research in 1920s through 1940s Palestine intersects with his connections with Palestinian communities today and his archival research more broadly.
About our guest:
Chris Harding is a PhD candidate at the City University of New York, Graduate Center. His work focuses on labor and capital in the Mandate period (1922-1948) in Palestine. In 2024, his work, “Researching Palestine” featured in the Biennale De Venezia, as part of the exhibition South West Bank—Landworks, Collective Action and Sound and is available online at Jadaliyya. Recently he published an essay with the magazine Public Seminar titled, "A House in the Middle of the Road", which examined the dual-colonisation of Palestine during the Great Revolt (1936-1939).
More about Chris Harding and organizations mentioned in this conversation:
Dar Jacir: darjacir.com and on Instagram: @darjacir
Researching Palestine booklet: jadaliyya.com/Details/46118
Public Seminar essay by Chris Harding: publicseminar.org/2026/03/cannibal-colonization-palestines-great-revolt
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Thank you to our podcast editor Jade Iseri-Ramos, and thank you to Gaius LaSota for our Part of the Practice music.
Part of the Practice logo courtesy of Maliyah Mohamed.
Social Practice CUNY is funded by the Mellon Foundation.