Today’s Granoff Music Center Colloquium at Tufts University features Dr. David A. McDonald of Indiana University speaking on “Listening to the Nakba: Palestine and the Crisis of Response.” For Palestinians the “nakba,” or catastrophe, is a profound concept that describes the events of 1948, when the majority of the world’s Palestinians were forced into exile, as well as ongoing experiences of settler-colonial dispossession and erasure. As both historical event and contemporary discourse, the nakba not only connects Palestinians across time and space, but it captures the underlying logic that legitimizes myriad forms of violence, death, and political repression currently facing Palestinians (and their allies) around the world. Drawing from recent literature in indigenous sound studies, McDonald argues that the nakba offers an essential point of contact for hearing Palestinian experience and for refusing colonial listening practices. McDonald is Associate Professor of Folklore and Ethnomusicology at Indiana University. Since 2002, he has worked closely with Palestinian communities in Israel, Jordan, the West Bank, Gaza, and North America. Trained in ethnomusicology, he has published widely on Palestinian music, focusing specifically on the dynamics of trauma, violence, and exile. Free to the public with no tickets required.