Israel/ Palestine Field School: Settler Colonialism and Post Colonial Critique

(offered in 2011 and 2015, with Alex Lubin, American Studies)

In this field-school students will gain an understanding of the technologies of settler colonialism and various forms of post-colonial critique and resistance.  Our understanding of this scholarship will be based on a field school experience in the West Bank of Palestine and in Israel.  We will document a variety of “technologies” of settler colonialism, including the Israeli “security wall,” settler roads, check-points, refugee camps, and archeological and resource planning strategies.  We will also document forms of post-colonial critique by talking with Palestinian and Israeli peace activists, and a variety of Palestinian NGOs addressing the problems of military occupation and settler colonialism.

 Our goals in this field school are not only to better understand the lived realities on the ground in Israel/Palestine, but also to develop skills of critical analysis with which to better understand colonialism, decolonization, and indigeneity in multiple sites, including the U.S. Southwest.

 A variety of research activities are planned for the two-week period including: photo and video documentation of physical, environmental, and human geographical conditions in the West Bank; interviews with Palestinian and Israeli scholars and experts who speak English; market studies and assessments in key urban areas; discussions with Israeli and Palestinian students and peers.