Last Friday, November 15, 2024, Mada al-Carmel held the first session of its academic seminar on “Israel Studies” in its offices in Haifa, organized by its Israel Studies Program. Approximately 20 Arab academics with a variety of academic specialisms in the social sciences, humanities and law, took part in the first session.
The seminar will cover a number of political, social and economic questions relating to Israel. It will investigate them using critical research tools that not only do not rely on prevailing approaches within Israeli academia, but also strive to equip the participants with the academic and research tools through which to dismantle the existing academic discourse and knowledge about Israel. It further seeks to enhance the current field of knowledge in order to confront the existing hegemonic discourse on knowledge production.
The seminar’s opening lecture was delivered by Dr. Mtanes Shihadeh, Director of Mada’s Israel Studies Program. In it, he discussed the importance of critical research in studying and understanding the current transformations taking place within Israeli society and politics. He affirmed that a goal of the seminar was to enhance the field of knowledge in order to confront the hegemonic discourse on knowledge production. Dr. Shihadeh also argued that it is difficult to study a society without also studying the state and political institutions, and deconstructing dominant concepts. He added the current situation requires a collective effort to overcome the policies of silencing and intimidation that are being imposed on Palestinian society within Israel, which have extended to Israeli academia – which has indeed plays a role in implementing them – through academic tools, and tools of knowledge-production and critical research.
The seminar consists of a total of 12 monthly sessions, to be held over the course of a year. During these sessions, Arab academics will give lectures on various facets of Israel studies, including the following: the history of Zionism; the history and structure of the political and party-political system in Israel; shifts in politics and society in Israel; Israel and Arab citizens; Israel and the Palestinian issue; and the Israeli economy.
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