Navigating Emotional Jetlag: A Palestinian Reflection on Identity and Hope

Hybrid Event

"Navigating Emotional Jetlag: A Palestinian Reflection on Identity and Hope” with Shadia Qubti

Date: Thursday, October 2, 2025

Time: 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM

Venue: School of Population & Public Health (SPPH), UBC | Floor: 1 | Room: B151.

Online: Zoom. https://ubc.zoom.us/meeting/register/dUUKe1mST4GdQv-HUinmyA

Join Palestinian lived theologian Shadia Qubti for an intimate presentation exploring what it means to live between worlds. Through personal storytelling, readings from her own writings, and contemporary Palestinian music and poetry, Qubti will share lived experiences navigating between Nazareth and Vancouver while carrying intergenerational trauma amid ongoing genocide. Using her concept of "emotional jetlag" - living simultaneously across multiple realities and time zones - she'll weave together personal narrative with voices from Palestinian artists to examine how communities maintain identity, family bonds, and hope amid systems of separation. This is both scholarly reflection and deeply personal testimony, inviting audiences into conversation about displacement, belonging, and the role of art in making sense of impossible circumstances.

Co-sponsored by the Modern Arabic Program and the Indigenous Asia Initiative Steering Committee in the Department of Asian Studies, University of British Columbia.

Image: Details of the Intifada dress, Palestine. MOA Collection 3295/8.

Bio:
Shadia Qubti is a Palestinian lived theologian from Nazareth whose work bridges Palestinian Christian heritage with Indigenous and Inter-Religious Studies. Drawing on contrapuntal approaches, she brings Palestinian and North American Indigenous perspectives into dialogue, highlighting how land, identity, and faith are interwoven. Her forthcoming book contributes to more inclusive theological conversations that center marginalized voices.

Host or Publisher UBC Indigenous Asia Initiative Steering Committee