Derek Ide is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of History at the University of Houston. His dissertation seeks to bridge this chasm between U.S. history and that of the modern Arab world by analyzing the crosspollination of Black and Palestinian internationalist networks of solidarity. While his work explores mainstream organizations like the Black Panther Party and their connection to the Palestinian Revolution, he also studies overlooked historical actors such as Robert F. Williams, Richard Gibson, and the League of Revolutionary Black Workers. He further explores the role that Palestinian revolutionaries played fostering solidarity with the Black struggle inside (and outside) the United States. By doing so, his project intends to illuminate key historical themes related to transnational cooperation and cooptation, solidarity building and breaking, and revolutionary worldmaking during the height of the anticolonial movements in the 1960s and 1970s.

Derek’s other interests include the study of empire and imperialism, anticolonial and communist movements in the Third World, and the connections between sports (especially bodybuilding and combat sports) and political consciousness. He received his Master’s in History from the University of Toledo, writing a thesis on the Egyptian communist movement under Nasser, and a dual bachelor’s degree in History and Education at the University of Toledo. He has published in Al-Adab, shared his work at the Middle East Studies Association, and was a recipient of the University of Houston Graduate Teaching Assistant Award.

Email: daide@uh.edu
Website: https://uh.academia.edu/DerekIde