Next IPBC talk by Mazin Qumsiyeh on 08 April 2026

[Phila M. Msimang]

Greetings everyone, 

This is an announcement about the upcoming talk for the International Philosophy of Biology Circle (IPBC). 

Our next talk will be by Mazin Qumsiyeh (Palestine Museum of Natural History, Palestine) Why we must all challenge ecocide: case study from Palestine. 

This talk will take place on Wednesday 8 April 2026 at 18h00 – 19h00 SAST (South African Standard Time / GMT +2 / UTC + 02:00). 

Please find the abstract for the talk below: 

Why we must all challenge ecocide: case study from Palestine

In his talks Prof. Qumsiyeh explains why and how the colonization of Palestine and its transformation from a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, multi-religious and multilingual country to make it a "Jewish state" led to destruction of BOTH human and natural communities. As part of the genocide, there is destruction of the environment (ecocide) and this has global ramifications. He articulates how working for environmental justice and for human rights is key to peace and sustainability and not just in Western Asia but globally. He also advances the notion that human and biological diversity are valued by indigenous people and how colonizers damage both forms of diversity.

 

You can join the meeting using this hyperlink that I will send with every meeting reminder: Join the meeting now. 

Our schedule of talks for the next few months is as follows: 

8 April 2026: Mazin Qumsiyeh (Palestine Museum of Natural History, Palestine) Why we must all challenge ecocide: case study from Palestine.

13 May 2026: Pınar Önal (Bilkent University, Türkiye). Repressors of Distinct Dynamics Multiply the Effect of a Single Morphogen.

[Event in Türkiye during Northern Summer break (29 June - 5 July), meeting break in August] 

16 September 2026: Lucas Matthews (Columbia University, USA) How the problem of locality turned into the problem of portability.  (See text here)

Please do send me an e-mail if you would like to propose to present your work on any topic in the philosophy of biology in our series. 

 We now have a Bluesky profile that you can follow here: https://bsky.app/profile/phil-bio-circle.bsky.social

Best wishes,

 

Phila M. Msimang

Senior Lecturer in the Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

Office: +27 21 808 9938 | Department administrator: +27 21 808 2418

Co-ordinator of the International Philosophy of Biology Circle

Fellow of the South African Young Academy of Science

Secretary of the Azanian Philosophical Society

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