Kassem Eida

Kassem Eida is a PhD candidate at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies (IAIS), University of Exeter, and a recipient of the Wolfson Postgraduate Scholarship in the Humanities. He is currently conducting his doctoral research under the supervision of Professors Laleh Khalili and Adam Hanieh.

Looking at Lebanon's political economy and historical processes of state-building, Kassem's PhD research investigates the fundamental impact of the 1948 Nakba in Palestine on the economic and urban transformation of Lebanon from 1950 to the outbreak of the Lebanese civil war in 1975; a period commonly termed within Lebanese scholarship as the “Economic Miracle”, yet one in which the Palestinian class-diverse diaspora is rendered largely invisible. Through this research, he explores the crucial role of Palestinian capital and labour, displaced in 1948 from Palestine’s urban centers and rural regions, in driving Lebanon’s development in both economic and spatial terms. By doing so, his PhD study seeks to uncover how the displacement and exploitation of Palestinian wealth, knowledge, and bodies was instrumental in Lebanon’s emergence during the 1950s–1960s as a “Commercial Republic”, with its capital Beirut as a vibrant metropolis and a major trade center in the the Arab World on the eastern Mediterranean coast. 

Kassem's research aspires to transcend methodological nationalism by examining how transnational mobilities of capital and labour both are affected by and shape displacement, war-making, and state formation. It seeks to rethink dominant paradigms about state-building in the Middle East—which often favour geopolitical factors and, in doing so, overlook the transformative role of class-diverse actors who engage from below, whose activities, movements, networks, and flexible citizenships extend beyond national borders.

PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND

Prior to pursuing his PhD studies, Kassem spent 15 years working as an architect with international consulting firms in Frankfurt, Berlin, and Lisbon. His academic and professional experience integrates multidisciplinary research, design and project consultancy, spanning architecture, regenerative and post-war urbanism, territorial development, urban governance and regulatory frameworks, cultural heritage, real estate Due Diligence,  and sustainability. His portfolio includes international project collaborations across major cities such as Berlin, Riyadh, Lisbon, Frankfurt, Tehran, Doha, Beirut, Tallinn, Wroclaw, Innsbruck and Seville.

ACADEMIC BACKGROUND

Kassem holds a M.Sc. in Architecture from the Brandenburg University of Technology in Cottbus, Germany (2012). His Master’s dissertation examined the infrastructure networks, transnational commodity flows, and the movement of undocumented migrants and asylum seekers across the militarized Morocco–Spain border, with a particular focus on the geopolitically contested Spanish-controlled enclave of Ceuta on the North African coast. Furthermore, he holds a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture from the American University of Beirut (2009).

RESEARCH & DESIGN PROJECTS 

• 2012 | Master Thesis: "Enclave, Exclave: Productive Borders between Conflict and Exchange; A Critical Study of Borders and Flows in the Spanish Enclave of Ceuta". Brandenburg University of Technology, Germany; University of Seville, Spain
• 2011 | Project Workshop:"Territory, Cultural Landscape and Urban Development on the Andalusian Coast". University of Seville, Spain
• 2011 | Project Workshop: "Wroclaw Industrial Heritage: Territorial Development and Urban Design". Wroclaw University of Technology, Poland
• 2011 | Project Workshop: "Sustainable and Reproductive Urban Development. Rethinking Sustainability Through Grassroot Practices". Tallinn University of Applied Sciences, Estonia
• 2011 | Project Workshop: "East Germany’s GDR Architecture, Dealing with Heritage, Political History, and Collective Memory. Spatial Strategies for the Transformation of the Stasi Secret Service Building in Cottbus". Brandenburg University of Technology, Germany
• 2009 | Project Workshop: "Beirut Post-Traumatic Urbanism. Investigating Post-War Urban Peripheries and Voids along Beirut’s East-West Demarcation Line". American University of Beirut; University of Technology Sydney
• 2007 | Project Studio:"Dahyeh Untitled. Rethinking Beirut’s Southern Suburb in the Aftermath of the 2006 Israeli War on Lebanon. Ethnographic Research and Cognitive Mapping". American University of Beirut
• 2007 | Project Studio:"Revisiting Hamra Street: an Urban Hub in Ras Beirut. Urban Transformation, Programs, Stakeholder Groups, Actors and Agents, and Sectarian Political Networks". American University of Beirut
• 2008 | Project: "Regional Architecture Modernism in Lebanon. Surveying and Archiving". American University of Beirut

FILMS & TRANSLATIONS

• 2019 | Protagonist & Translator: “Tracing Palestinian Diaspora: From Tarshiha to Borj El-Barajneh Refugee Camp”. Film Director: Dror Dayan (Link)
• 2016-2018 | Translator: “Not Just Your Picture: The Story of the Kilani Family”. Film Directors: Dror Dayan & Anne Paq (Link)
• 2014-2016 | Translator: “Even Though My Land is Burning”. Film Director: Dror Dayan (Link)