Ghada Sasa is a PhD candidate at McMaster University. Her research spotlights the oppressive nature of modern or Western environmentalism, which separates human rights and environmental rights, subjugating the former. She focuses on the Israeli government's establishment of protected areas, such as national parks and nature reserves, in Historic Palestine and the Israeli-occupied territories, as a tool to advance its settler-colonial project, behind a green façade. She also explores the examples of resistance against Israeli greenwashing, by indigenous Palestinians and Syrians, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and other actors, and means of decolonizing environmentalism, primarily by centering human rights. As a Palestinian woman and activist on indigenous, environmental, worker, and racial issues, Ghada draws from her lived experience to engage in intersectional scholarship. After completeing her thesis, she seeks to disseminate her findings widely, to raise awareness of the discreet colonialism taking place in Palestine and elsewhere. More specifically, she aims to use her research to fill a significant gap in Canadian curricula, to ensure students understand the intimate link between people and nature, and work toward social and environmental justice. 

Ghada is currently the Board of Governors Graduate Student Representative at McMaster University, urging the administration to provide immediate and automatic COVID-19 relief for all graduate students, grant 5th-year PhD funding, tackle anti-Black racism, and divest from fossil fuels.

  

Tentative Dissertation Title: A Depopulated Paradise: Decolonizing Environmentalism to Recover Palestine

Supervisor: Dr. Alina Sajed

Committee Members: Dr. Peter Nyers; Dr. J. Marshall Beier 

Areas of Interest:

• Middle East
• Decolonization
• Palestinian Knowledge
• Environmental Justice
• Climate Change
• Protected Areas

Awards:

• Institute on Globalization and Human Condition Graduate Essay Prize (2019)
• The Canadian Palestinian Professional Foundation Outstanding Student Achievement Award (First Place) (2018)
• Ontario Graduate Scholarship (2018)
• Joseph Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship (2015)
• First Place in the Glendon College Arts Competition (2014)
• First Place in the Toronto French Contest – Core French Plus (2011)

Languages: