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Muhannad Ayyash, PhD
E-mail: mayyash@mtroyal.ca
Education:
Ph.D. Sociology, York University
M.A. Sociology, Carleton University
B.A. (Honors) Sociology, Dalhousie University
My interdisciplinary research draws from anti-racist, decolonial, and critical hermeneutic approaches to social theory and analysis. Driven by questions about relations of power, justice, as well as political and social change, my research has largely focused on violence, settler colonial sovereignty, decolonial sovereignties, as well as social movements, particularly focusing on the Palestinian struggle. I teach contemporary social theory, decolonial theory, social movements, and sociology of violence.
Book Publications
Monographs
Ayyash, M. M. (2025). Lordship and Liberation in Palestine-Israel: The Promise of Decolonial Sovereignties. New York: Columbia University Press.
Ayyash, M. M. (2019). A Hermeneutics of Violence: A Four-Dimensional Conception. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Edited Books
Wildeman, J. & Ayyash, M. M. (eds.) (2023). Canada as a Settler Colony on the Question of Palestine. Edmonton: University of Alberta Press.
Ayyash, M. M. & Hadj-Moussa, R. (eds.) (2017). Protests and Generations: Legacies and Emergences in the Middle East, North Africa and the Mediterranean. Leiden: Brill.
Journal Publications
Ayyash, M. M. (2025). "The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Campaign: Challenging the Unintelligibility of Palestinian Decolonial Resistance in Canada." Journal of Palestine Studies, Online First: 1-19.
Ayyash, M. M. (2025). “The Western Imperial Order on Display in Gaza: Palestine as an Ideological Fault Line in the International Arena.” Third World Quarterly, Online First: 1-18.
Ayyash, M. M. (2024). “Colonial Racial Capitalism and Violence: Theorising the Relationship between Empire and Israeli Settler Colonialism.” The Journal of Holy Land and Palestine Studies, 23 (2): 205–220.
Ayyash, M. M. (2024). “Zionism, Nationalism, and Settler Colonialism: On Motivations and Violence.” Middle East Critique, 33 (2): 195-210.
Ayyash, M. M. (2022). “The Toxic Other: The Palestinian Critique and Debates about Race and Racism.” Critical Sociology, 49(6):953-966.
Ayyash, M. M. (2022). “Vaccine Apartheid and Settler Colonial Sovereign Violence: From Palestine to the Colonial Global Economy.” Distinktion: Journal of Social Theory, 23 (2-3): 304-326.
Ayyash, M. M. (2021). “Palestine as Stage.” Journal of Visual Culture, 20 (2): 307-311.
Ayyash, M. M. (2020). “A Pandemic in an Age of Omnipresent Sovereign Power: The Plight of Palestine.” TOPIA: Canadian Journal of Cultural Studies, 41: 123-131.
Ayyash, M. M. (2018). "An Assemblage of Decoloniality? Palestinian Fellahin Resistance and the Space-Place Relation". Studies in Social Justice, 12 (1): 21-37.
Ayyash, M. M. (2017). "Rethinking the Social-Political through Ibn Khaldûn and Aristotle". Interventions: International Journal of Postcolonial Studies, 19 (8): 1193-1209.
Ayyash, M. M. (2013). "The Paradox of Political Violence". European Journal of Social Theory, 16 (3): 342-356.
Ayyash, M. M. (2013). "Carrying the Burden of Past Violences: A Comparative Analysis of Transnational Palestinian Youth Movements". In a special issue of Sikh Formations titled, Violence, Memory, and the Dynamics of Transnational Youth Formations, 9 (3): 279-297.
Ayyash, M. M. (2010). "Hamas and the Israeli State: A 'Violent Dialogue'". European Journal of International Relations, 16 (1): 103-123.
Ayyash, M. M. (2010). "Edward Said: Writing in Exile". Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, 30 (1): 107-118.
Ayyash, M. M. (2007). "The Appearance of War in Discourse: The Neoconservatives on Iraq". Constellations: An International Journal of Critical and Democratic Theory, 14 (4): 613-634.
Book Chapters
Ayyash, M. M. (2023). “Hyphenation and Conciliation in the Settler Colony.” In Canada as a Settler Colony on the Question of Palestine. pp: 3-15 Edmonton: University of Alberta Press.
Ayyash, M. M. & Wildeman, J. (2023). “Introduction.” In Canada as a Settler Colony on the Question of Palestine. pp: xiii-xxviii Edmonton: University of Alberta Press.
Ayyash, M. M. (2023). “The Egyptian Uprising and Sexual Violence.” In The Myth of Middle East Exceptionalism: Unfinished Social Movements, pp: 301-316. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press.
Ayyash, M. M. (2022). “Building from the Rubble: Palestinian Resistance and the Road to Liberation.” In Insurrectionary Uprisings: A Reader in Revolutionary Nonviolence and Decolonization, pp: 373-376. Québec: Daraja Press.
Ayyash, M. M. (2020). “Jerusalem and Violence: The Transformation of Secular and Sacred Interpretations.” In Cultural Violence and Destruction of Communities: New Theoretical Perspectives, pp: 95-115. New York: Routledge.
Ayyash, M. M. & Hadj-Moussa, R. (2017). "Conceptualizing Generations and Protests". In Protests and Generations: Legacies and Emergences in the Middle East, North Africa and the Mediterranean, pp: 1-23. Leiden: Brill.
Policy Brief
Ayyash, M. M. (2024). “Canada’s Symbolic Move on Arms to Israel.” Arab Center Washington DC, April 17: https://arabcenterdc.org/resource/canadas-symbolic-move-on-arms-to-israel/
Ayyash, M. M. (2024). “Palestinians and Israelis Already Live Together: What’s Missing Is Equality and Justice.” Century International, April 16: https://tcf.org/content/
Ayyash, M. M. (2023). “Liberal Zionism: A Pillar of Israel’s Settler Colonial Project.” Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network: https://al-shabaka.org/briefs/
Opinion
Ayyash, M. M. (2025). “Palestine and the decline of the US empire.” Al-Jazeera, May 6:
https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2025/5/6/palestine-and-the-decline-of-the-us-empire
Ayyash, M. M. (2025). “The only way to stop the Netanyahu-Trump plan to eliminate Palestine is to begin rebuilding Gaza now.” Mondoweiss, February 8: https://mondoweiss.net/2025/02/the-only-way-to-stop-the-netanyahu-trump-plan-to-eliminate-palestine-is-to-begin-rebuilding-gaza-now/
Ayyash, M. M. (2025). “Defining decolonial liberation in Palestine.” Reading Decoloniality: Scholarship for Liberation, United Kingdom, February 8: https://readingdecoloniality.
Ayyash, M. M. (2025). “Can a ceasefire end settler colonial genocide?” Al-Jazeera, January 17: https://www.aljazeera.com/
Ayyash, M. M. (2024). “No, Trump will not be worse than Biden for Palestine and the Middle East,” Al-Jazeera, November 11: https://www.aljazeera.com/
Ayyash, M. M. (2024). “War on Gaza: Universities that resist BDS are at risk of losing legitimacy,” Middle East Eye, October 28: https://www.middleeasteye.net/
Ayyash, M. M. (2024). “A hollow Palestinian state,” Mondoweiss, July 6: https://mondoweiss.net/2024/07/a-hollow-palestinian-state/
Ayyash, M. M. (2024). “It is time for a democratic world order,” Al-Jazeera, April 16: https://www.aljazeera.com/
Ayyash, M. M. (2024). “Canadian post-secondary institutions and Palestine/Israel,” Letter to the Editor, CAUT Bulletin, January-February: https://www.caut.ca/bulletin/
Ayyash, M. M. (2024). “War on Gaza: Boycotting Israel could stop the genocide”, Middle East Eye, February 26: https://www.middleeasteye.net/
Ayyash, M. M. (2024). “Cops crashed my talk on Palestine (and proved my point about colonialism)”, The Breach, February 14: https://breachmedia.ca/
Ayyash, M. M. (2024). “Zionism and colonial modernity”, Mondoweiss, January 16: https://mondoweiss.net/2024/
Ayyash, M. M. (2023). “Israel-Palestine war: Arab regimes have betrayed Gaza”, Middle East Eye, November 5: https://www.middleeasteye.net/
Ayyash, M. M. (2023). “A genocide is under way in Palestine”, Al-Jazeera, 2 November: https://www.aljazeera.com/
Ayyash, M. M. (2023). “The West’s double standards are once again on display in Israel and Palestine”, The Conversation, 19 October: https://theconversation.com/
Ayyash, M. M. (2023). “Against the Imposters: To fight for truth and justice is to fight for Palestinian freedom”, The Baffler, 17 October: https://thebaffler.com/latest/
Ayyash, M. M. (2023). “Palestinians are showing that they will not be erased”, Al-Jazeera, 10 October: https://www.aljazeera.com/
Ayyash, M. M. (2023). “Biden says the U.S. would have to invent an Israel if it didn’t exist. Why?”, The Conversation, 24 July: https://theconversation.com/
Ayyash, M. M. (2023). “Let’s talk about Jenin”, Al-Jazeera, 11 July: https://www.aljazeera.com/
Ayyash, M. M. (2023). “Weaponisation of anti-Semitism is bad for Palestinians – and Jews”, Al-Jazeera, 22 June: https://www.aljazeera.com/
Ayyash, M. M. (2023). “Israeli violence is the problem”, Al-Jazeera, 10 April: https://www.aljazeera.com/
Ayyash, M. M. (2023). “For Palestine, justice is not a question of law”, Al-Jazeera, 8 February: https://www.aljazeera.com/
Ayyash, M. M. (2022). “For Canadian universities, the Palestinian is the ‘toxic other’”, Al-Jazeera, 30 November: https://www.
Ayyash, M. M. (2022). “When will the settler colonial siege of the Gaza Strip end?”, Al-Jazeera, 6 August: https://www.aljazeera.
Ayyash, M. M. (2022). “Pressure and Escape: In Palestine, nature and poetry are lifelines”, The Baffler, 30 June: https://thebaffler.com/
Ayyash, M. M. (2022). “Palestine’s voice will never be silenced”, Al-Jazeera, 14 May: https://www.aljazeera.
Ayyash, M. M. (2022). “The cause, and the goal, of Israeli violence”, Al-Jazeera, 20 April: https://www.aljazeera.
Ayyash, M. M. (2021). “What is Israel’s word worth?”, Al-Jazeera, 7 December: https://www.
Ayyash, M. M. (2021). “The Toronto District School Board’s real scandal is anti-Palestinian racism”, The Breach, 6 October: https://breachmedia.
Ayyash, M. M. (2021). “The choice is between Israeli colonialism vs. decolonial justice”, Mondoweiss, 22 July: https://mondoweiss.net/
Ayyash, M. M. (2021). “Indigenous Sovereignty & Canadian Settler Colonialism”, Politics Today, 13 July: https://politicstoday.
Ayyash, M. M. (2021). “Urgently needed – a ‘Palestinian-Montrealer’!”, Al-Jazeera, 25 May: https://www.aljazeera.
Ayyash, M. M. (2021). “Building from the Rubble: Palestinian resistance and the road to liberation”, The Baffler, 19 May: https://thebaffler.com/
Ayyash, M. M. (2021). “Break the fear barrier and speak up for Palestine”, Al-Jazeera, 11 May: https://www.aljazeera.
Ayyash, M. M. (2021). “The Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism is an orientalist text”, Al-Jazeera, 21 April: https://www.aljazeera.
Ayyash, M. M. (2021). “Why the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism is a clear and present danger to academic freedom”, Canadian Dimension, 1 April: https://
Ayyash, M. M. (2021). “Racial logics and the epistemological space of Palestine”, Culturico, 14 March: https://culturico.com/
Ayyash, M. M. (2021). “The path to peace in Israel-Palestine is through decolonization”, Al-Jazeera, 17 February: https://www.
Ayyash, M. M. (2021).“Distinguishing between Academic Freedom and Freedom of Expression”, Mount Royal Faculty Association Faculty Forum, 15January: https://mrfa.net/
Ayyash, M. M. (2021).“Vaccine politics: It's time to rethink the colonial global economy”, MiddleEast Eye, 20 January: https://www.
Ayyash, M. M. (2020). “The IHRA definition will not help fight antisemitism.” Al-Jazeera, 23 November: https://www.
Ayyash, M. M. (2020). “Fighting for Palestine.” Al-Jazeera, 10 October: https://www.
Ayyash, M. M. (2020). “Israel is a settler colony, annexing native land is what it does.” Al-Jazeera, 7 July: https://www.aljazeera.
Ayyash, M. M. (2020). “Palestinians and Black Lives Matter are united against oppression.” Middle East Monitor, 4 June: https://www.
Ayyash, M. M. (2019). “The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign and public discourse”, Middle East Monitor, 14 May: https://www.