Silence of the boycotting anthropologists
By Dr. A. Mark Clarfield, Sidonie Hecht Professor of Geriatrics and Vice Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
I have always been fascinated by the field of anthropology . Who wouldn’t be, given that the discipline is based on the “study of man” [used in its non sexist sense of “person” of course]. And the world loves the field too. Just look at all the movies, novels and journalistic articles which have accompanied anthropology over the last hundred years. In fact, I was so interested in this discipline that in the third year of medical residency (and I was certainly busy enough then) I actually took an undergraduate course in physical anthropology and boy did I ever enjoy that.
Read more at The Times of Israel
Academic boycotts and anti-normalization
Ills of anti-normalization / By Ghaith al-Omari
“That many Palestinians are now questioning the value of coexistence initiatives is understandable. The lack of a credible peace process, the dwindling prospects of a two-state solution, and Israeli policies in the West Bank and Gaza have greatly weakened the credibility of these initiatives. Nevertheless, the methods and objectives of anti-normalization movement should raise serious concern among Palestinians.
The increasingly direct and sometimes violent methods of anti-normalization activists are aimed at preventing Palestinians from relating to Israelis. They also discourage healthy debate. This movement ignores the Palestinians’ unique and rich history of political diversity and instead seeks to impose the kind of uniformity that has traditionally plagued other Arab societies. Anti-normalization activists have a right to hold their own views, but they should not be able to prevent other Palestinians from dissenting or exercising their right to engage in joint activities with Israelis. Preventing Palestinians and Israelis from interacting directly would deprive the Palestinians—individually and collectively—of the opportunity to gain a deeper, more textured, and ultimately more accurate understanding of Israel.”
Read the post at the TTN website here
Anthropology in Israel
IAA Resolution: End the Occupation, Oppose Academic Boycott, Support Dialogue
On June 11th this year the Israeli Anthropological Association passed a resolution calling upon the Israeli government to take key steps to bring about a just and viable future for Israelis and Palestinians. These include ending the occupation of the West Bank, efforts to rebuild Gaza, implementing equal rights for Israeli Palestinian citizens, and viable solutions to the tragedy of Palestinian refugees.
At the same time it calls upon anthropologists and others to recognize the important role that moderate segments in Israeli society—including academics—have played in the difficult struggle for peace in the region, to resist conflating academic institutions with government policies and actions, and to oppose initiatives to boycott universities in Israel.
Selected Israeli anthropological books of interest
About anthropology in Israel:
Ethnographic Encounters in Israel: Poetics and Ethics of Fieldwork
Edited and with an introduction by Fran Markowitz
http://www.iupress.indiana.edu/product_info.php?products_id=806875
Raucher on Markowitz, ‘Ethnographic Encounters in Israel: Poetics and Ethics of Fieldwork’: https://networks.h-net.org/node/28655/reviews/63884/raucher-markowitz-ethnographic-encounters-israel-poetics-and-ethics
Toward an Anthropology of Nation Building and Unbuilding in Israel
Edited and with an introduction by Fran Markowitz, Stephen Sharot, and Moshe Shokeid
Afterword by Alex Weingrod
Eller on Markowitz, Sharot, and Shokeid: http://wings.buffalo.edu/ARD/cgi/showme.cgi?keycode=6425
In the Company of Others: The Development of Anthropology in Israel
By: Orit Abuhav
http://www.wsupress.wayne.edu/books/detail/company-others
About the Israeli-Palestinian conflict:
Conscientious Objectors in Israel: Citizenship, Sacrifice, Trials of Fealty
By: Erica Weiss
http://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/15212.html
Remembering Palestine in 1948: Beyond National Narratives
By: Efrat Ben-Ze’ev
Silencing the Sea: Secular Rhythms in Palestinian Poetry
By: Khaled Furani
http://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=10544
Mixed Towns, Trapped Communities: Historical Narratives, Spatial Dynamics, Gender Relations and Cultural Encounters in Palestinian-Israeli Towns
Edited by: Daniel Monterescu and Dan Rabinowitz
http://www.ashgate.com/isbn/9780754647324
Coffins on Our Shoulders: The Palestinian Citizens of Israel Today
By: Dan Rabinowitz and Khawla Abu-Baker
http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520245570
Anthropology and the Palestinians (Hebrew)
By: Dan Rabinowitz
http://www.vanleer.org.il/he/node/1484
Overlooking Nazareth: The Ethnography of Exclusion in a Mixed Town in Galilee
By: Dan Rabinowitz
Bedouin Century: Education and Development among the Negev Tribes in the Twentieth Century
By: Aref Abu-Rabia
http://www.berghahnbooks.com/title.php?rowtag=AburabiaBedouin
