In an effort to gather Palestinian students on campus and educate the UMD community about Palestinian culture, Sarah Edwan came up with the idea of the Palestinian Cultural Club, also known as PCC.
Edwan, whose family hails from Gaza, founded the student organization last semester with the motto of building community through culture.
“I wanted a place where Palestinians can just be Palestinian and celebrate their culture,” said Edwan, who is a sophomore information science major. “Being able to just talk about what it means to be a [Palestinian] is important so that we are not erased. We just want to be Palestinian in peace.”
PCC educates the campus community about Palestinian heritage through social events. Raising awareness about the culture is essential to counter the ongoing demonization and overall erasure of Palestinian identity, added Edwan, founder and president of PCC.
Palestinian students–such as freshman Letters and Sciences student Jenna Awadallah–praised the new club, noting that it provided them with an outlet to share their traditions.
“I was really excited to see that there was a club where we could celebrate Palestinian culture,” said Awadallah, whose family is from Dar al Ber, Palestine. She attended a Paint Night event hosted by PCC, where she drew her grandmother’s kitchen–a sentimental reminder of her roots.
Like many cultural organizations for Muslim-majority countries at UMD, PCC’s events have attendees from diverse backgrounds, not just those of Palestinian heritage. This highlights the diversity of Islam and the community it offers.
“Even if you’re not Palestinian, I think it’s important to support each other’s cultures–especially in Muslim-based organizations,” said Amman Vahora, a senior computer science major and one of the attendees at PCC’s Paint Night.
Although Vahora is not Palestinian, he attended PCC’s event because he believes it is important to stay educated about Palestine and other issues in the Muslim world.
Palestinian culture has long been a symbol of the resistance of its people. “Preserving Palestinian culture is important because it is a form of resistance against the occupation,” Awadallah said. “There have been so many attempts to erase [our] culture, which is why making an effort to plan events that center [it] is extremely important.”
Other events held by PCC include a potluck, a thrifting event, and a game of jeopardy. Edwan hopes to host events in the future that feature some of Palestine’s most well known symbols of resistance including tatreez, a cultural Palestinian embroidery, dabke, a Levantine traditional dance, and Arabic poetry.
“We want to teach other people about our culture,” Edwan said. “Everyone knows what is happening in [Palestine], but they don’t really know much about Palestinians themselves and their culture.”
Image credits: Cover photo by Amna Tariq.
Al-Hikmah 
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