Kassem Eida

Kassem Eida is a PhD candidate in Middle East Politics 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 pursuing his doctoral research under the supervision of Professor Laleh Khalili and Professor Adam Hanieh.

Examining 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, expertise, 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 Arab World on the eastern Mediterranean coast. 

Kassem's research aims to overcome methodological nationalism by examining how the movements of capital and labour both shape and are shaped by displacement, war-making, class- and state formation. It seeks to rethink dominant paradigms of state-building in the Middle East—which often privilege geopolitical factors and, in doing so, overlook the transformative roles 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 strategic project consultancy, spanning architecture, urban planning, real estate due diligence, cultural heritage, and sustainability. His portfolio includes international project collaborations across major cities such as Berlin, Lisbon, Beirut, Madrid, Frankfurt, Riyadh, Doha, Tallinn, Wrocław, 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 

• 2019-2021 | Project: "Urban Development Regulatory and Land Use Frameworks, Property Design Guidelines, and Urban Codes for the City of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia". AS+P, Frankfurt, Germany
• 2012 | Master Thesis: "Enclave, Exclave: Productive Borders between Conflict and Exchange — A Study of Borders, Flows and Spatial Transformations in the Spanish Enclave of Ceuta". University of Seville, Spain; Brandenburg University of Technology, Germany
• 2011 | Project Workshop: "Territory, Cultural Landscape, and Urban Development along the Southern Andalusian Coast: Urban Research, Spatial Analysis, and Cartographies of the Costa del Sol". University of Seville, Spain
• 2011 | Project Workshop: "Wroclaw Industrial Heritage: Territorial Development Frameworks and Urban Design Strategies". Wroclaw University of Technology, Poland
• 2011 | Project Workshop: "Rethinking Sustainability from Below: Grassroots Practices and Socio-Economic Dimensions of Circular Economy within Informal Urban Settlements". Tallinn University of Applied Sciences, Estonia
• 2011 | Project Workshop: "Spatial Transformation of the Former GDR Stasi Secret Service Building in Cottbus: Engaging with History, Collective Memory, and Architecture of Political Power". Brandenburg University of Technology, Germany
• 2009 | Project Workshop: "Beirut Post-Traumatic Urbanism. Investigating Post-Civil-War Urban Peripheries and Voids along Beirut’s East-West Demarcation Line". American University of Beirut; University of Technology Sydney
• 2007 | Project:"Dahyeh Untitled: Rethinking Beirut’s Southern Suburb in the Aftermath of the 2006 Israeli War on Lebanon — Ethnographic Research, Cognitive and Spatial Mapping". American University of Beirut
• 2007 | Project: "Revisiting Hamra Street: Spatial Transformation, Evolving Programmes, Actors and Agents, Boundaries, and Political-Sectarian Networks in Ras Beirut". American University of Beirut
• 2008 | Project: "Modernist Architecture in Lebanon: Surveying, Documentation, and Archiving". American University of Beirut; Arab Center for Architecture (ACA) Archives

FILMS TRANSLATIONS

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