Recorded: 

Curated Track: 

Robert Ross, Point Park University

Description:

This session will explore the possibilities, responsibilities, and challenges of teaching about Palestine amidst an ongoing genocide. Education on Palestine in the United States and much of the Western world has long been fraught with institutional and discursive pressures to conform to Zionist narratives and perspectives. Even the mere use of the word “Palestine” elicits administrative alarm in many universities, so much so that a course with “Palestine” in its title, much less content related to Palestinian resistance, cannot often pass through the necessary gatekeepers to appear on an official curriculum. Instructors who still manage to include material on Palestine and/or Palestinian scholars in their courses face, at best, student complaints and, at worst, risks to their employment and safety. Women, non-binary, and instructors of color, especially Arab and Palestinian professors, face particular scrutiny.

Coupled with a news media that significantly distorts, and often erases, the realities of Palestine, these academic restrictions mean that most students who graduate from universities do so without even a rudimentary understanding of the historical and political geographies of Palestine.

These institutional constraints have only increased since October 2023. Yet, in the face of an ongoing genocide, which has put Palestine at the center of political and media debate, and at the top of many students’ social media feeds, teaching the geographies of Palestine has never been more important.

Building upon the DOPE (Dimensions of Political Ecology) + Palestine pre-conference, this AAG session seeks to examine the strategies different instructors have used to effectively teach various geographies of Palestine. Panelists will discuss curricular and pedagogical successes and/or impediments they have faced as well as ideas for cross-institutional cooperation. We hope that this session leaves panelists and attendees with renewed inspiration to include Palestine in their courses, a broader array of approaches to do so, and a stronger network of colleagues who will support them as they move forward.

This session was planned by the Geographers for Justice in Palestine (GJP) and is part of a series of events including panels and a field trip.

Non-Presenting Participants