'The Child That I Left Behind': Memory, Trauma & Reconstruction of Childhood in Nakba Narratives

The presentation examines how Palestinian refugees from Lydda remember their childhood during and after the Nakba. The memories show that children’s experiences were shaped by continuous structures of violence rather than single traumatic events. They describe how childhood was disrupted through displacement, loss, and premature responsibilities, while also revealing the creative and adaptive ways children managed to survive and make meaning in unstable conditions. These memories continue to inform how refugees understand their present lives and serve as a form of knowledge and resistance that challenges dominant Western trauma frameworks.

All UCL staff and students welcome. Contact Feryal Awan and Diana Sousa for more details. 

If you’d like to lead a session—whether it’s a lecture, a workshop on an in-progress grant application or article, a book reading, or another activity—please let us know. Sessions can be kept informal, limited to CCSC staff and student members, or opened to the wider public, depending on the nature of the event and your preference.

Image: Julia Ricard via Unsplash

The Critical Childhood Studies Centre is a home for world-leading scholarship about childhood as a socio-political, cultural, and historical phenomenon in diverse global contexts. The Centre provides a focal point for faculty and students at all levels in UCL to engage in innovative and multi-disciplinary research, teaching, and public engagement geared towards achieving social justice with and for children and young people.