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Civil Discourse & Social Change

Current Freedom Issues: Palestine Liberation

Teaching Commons for Palestinian Liberation: Pedagogical Resources

 

 

1. Readings (Articles, Essays, and Journals)

2. Books

3. Videos/Documentaries

4. Art and Culture

  • Visual Art (Paintings, Photography, Installations)

    • Sacco, J. (2009). Footnotes in Gaza. Metropolitan Books.

  • Music

  • Poetry and Literature

    • Hindi, N. (2022). Dear God, Dear Bones, Dear Yellow. Haymarket Books.

    • Nye, N. S. (2019). The Tiny Journalist. BOA Editions, Ltd.

    • El-Kurd, M. (2021). Rifqa. Haymarket Books.

    • Alyan, H. (2017). Salt Houses. Houghton, Mifflin, Harcourt.

5. Assignments, Lesson Plans, and Teaching Strategies

  • Classroom Assignments

    • Journey Boxes: Although not specific to Palestine, this assignment asks students to create mini-archives that present a “counter-narrative” to dominant approaches to teaching history or current events. The assignment tasks students with finding original historical documents, photographs, ephemera, and other artifacts in order to tell a story of a particular time, event, or community from the vantage point of those typically misrepresented or silenced in and through the archive. Right now, these instructions & the rubric are specific to Elementary Education but the assignment could easily be adapted to suit any course and/or field of study. If you want high-quality work, it is necessary to show students an example & I can share mine (Reclaiming Sacajawea) with you. For our purposes, the best approach would likely be to create a journey box on Palestine that is related to your field/course content – use that as the model, take a class period to unpack/explore it with students in small groups, and then allow students to choose their own topic (which could be related to Palestine but doesn’t have to be). This is a safer way to present the assignment than mandating they make a journey box on Palestine in a course that isn’t Palestine-specific. It also ensures that they engage with the content you want them to consider BUT as a pedagogical defense, you can say that the class period you take to present the sample journey box is actually less about the content and more about them understanding the process of completing the assignment. Copy of Journey Box Instructions, Rubric, and Examples

    • Take the Mic: This is also not specific to Palestine, although it could be. This is an assignment in my arts-integrated social studies class & it provides opportunities for students to create original artwork on issues they care about. They will have spent the semester learning about and practicing various art forms; if you want high quality work from students, it might be important to teach arts skills throughout the semester. Take the Mic Final Project 

  • Pedagogical Approaches

    • The Compass Rose Activity: This activity is ideal when you want to get a better sense of how your students are thinking about/responding to something that is going on in the world. In the middle of the compass rose is the topic – past topics that I have tackled have been the Atlanta shooting targeting AAPI women, the George Floyd Uprisings, the 2016 election, and, most recently, the war on Gaza. If teaching in person, you label the four walls of the classroom w/ East: Emotions / North: What We Need to Know (in order to come to an informed opinion on this topic) / West: Worries and South: Suggestions for How to Move Forward. Students can write responses on post-it notes if you want to ensure privacy or you can have a chart paper at each station & take notes as a whole group. This decision will be based on the trust you’ve built with students. If you’re online, you can run things similarly – students can anonymously contribute responses that you display on a shared slide, or you can facilitate the convo synchronously and record student responses yourself. In addition to how to run the activity, there are also several things to consider in re: its purpose: 

      • The first and easiest way to run it is as a tool to promote community and socio-emotional safety/courage in the classroom; if this is its sole purpose, it becomes a way for students to share their thoughts/feelings without needing to resolve them or provide further education. The activity is conducted as a one-off, although it could be referenced throughout the semester if necessary.

      • If you want to use this as a tool for curriculum development, you can collect this info as data for how you design your forthcoming lessons. You would conduct the activity, analyze the answers/responses, and use your findings to influence your upcoming curricular choices, from readings you assign to activities you plan. After engaging in more direct education on the topic, you could run the activity again & see how/in what ways responses stayed the same or changed. 

    • This slideshow includes various activities I have facilitated that engage with Palestine in various ways. It runs the gamut from teaching students in a social studies class how to conduct an artifact inquiry using a zibdiya to comparing/contrasting A Time to Break the Silence (MLK Jr speech) w/ this sociopolitical moment. 

6. Organizations and Advocacy Groups: Resources and Websites

Support for Palestine and BDS Statements from Academic Institutions

African Literature Association Resolution: 

The ALA Supports the Academic Boycott of Israeli Academic Institutions (2014) 

American Anthropological Association Resolution to Boycott Israeli Academic Institutions (2023) 

American Comparative Literature Association, Endorsement of the 2005 Call of Palestinian Civil Society for BDS (2024) 

American Studies Association Resolution: Boycott of Israeli Academic Institutions (2013) • 

Association for Asian American Studies Resolution to Support the Boycott of Israeli Academic Institutions (2013) 

Association for Humanist Sociology Statement in Support of the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (2013) 

Critical Ethnic Studies Association Resolution on Academic Boycott of Israeli Academic Institutions (2014)  

Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism

Middle East Studies Association Resolution Regarding BDS (2022) 

Modern Language Association Resolution to Endorse the 2005 Palestinian BDS Call (2024) 

Native American and Indigenous Studies Association Declaration in Support of the Boycott of Israeli Academic Institutions (2013) 

National Association of Chicana and Chicano Studies Resolution to Support the Boycott of Israeli Academic Institutions (2015) 

National Women’s Studies Association Resolution in Support of BDS (2015) 

Peace and Justice Studies Association Endorsement of BDS (2014)

 

 



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