Palestine Interdisciplinary Research Group

About their research

The Palestine Interdisciplinary Research Group is an interdisciplinary research group that is centered on pedagogy in relation to Palestine at Concordia, broadly defined as instruction in the classroom setting and through campus events (e.g., seminars, film screenings).  

The group is convened around the following key questions:

• How do we develop strategies (e.g., course content, pedagogical methods, language) that can provide connections and nodes from which to witness structures of settler colonial violence? 
• How do we develop an interdisciplinary approach to address and guide the dialogue?  

The group's research objectives are to:

1. Collect data (course content, syllabi) to establish what content on Palestine exists, and the modes of knowledge dissemination (e.g., text, visual art, audio, multi-media). The goal is also to identify courses associated with pertinent themes (e.g., colonialism, anti-colonialism, refugees, Global South, creative resistance, non-Western art, surveillance), where content on Palestine could potentially be incorporated.  
2. Develop frameworks and compile resources that will provide faculty and students with the knowledge and tools to initiate dialogue on Palestine. This objective takes inspiration from – and draws on – a teaching resource co-authored by group member Dr. Natalie Kouri-Towe and Myloe Martel-Perry, entitled Better Practices in the Classroom: A Teaching Guidebook for Sustainable, Inclusive, and Equitable Learning from a Gender and Sexuality Studies Framework (published with Concordia University Press in 2024).  The collection focuses on research and praxis-driven pedagogies in the context of the gender and sexuality studies classroom and covers topics such as inclusive language, grappling with racial violence in education, decolonial approaches to education, accessibility and disability justice in the classroom, trigger warnings, and more. 

The Palestine Interdisciplinary Research Group recognizes the lack of care that a considerable majority of Indigenous, racialized, and POC students receive as they relive the violence and trauma of colonialism and imperialism. What has also become clear is that there is no concrete study within Concordia which shows us how to effectively address such complex issues in the classroom setting, particularly in moments of crisis.  As such, the group aims to develop resources for bringing such issues into the academic setting.  

The project builds on Concordia CTL’s other pedagogical initiatives, like the Indigenous Decolonization Hub and contemplative pedagogy, and seeks to further center voices that are currently marginalised. 

Claire Begbie
PhD Student, Department of Film Studies
Email: begbiecl@gmail.com

Norma M. Rantisi
Professor, Department of Geography, Planning and Environment

Elena Razlogova
Associate Professor, Department of History 

Beatrice Parsons
Assistant Professor, Department of Studio Arts

1. A workshop in the fall (October) by two professors to speak about resources and strategies for teaching Palestine. 
2. A conversation with Hilary Rantisi, who was the former associate director of the Religion, Conflict and Peace Initiative at Harvard University, and was recently terminated. Hilary will speak about the limits to academic freedom and the Palestine exception.  
3. A workshop for group members in March to exchange ongoing research on pedagogical practices and mapping of Palestine content in the curriculum.  

Group members

Nayrouz Abu Hatoum
Associate Professor, Department of Sociology and Anthropology 

Razan AlSalah
Lecturer, Department of Communication Studies  

Sarah Gabrial
Associate Professor, Department of History 

Kevin Gould
Associate Professor, Department of Geography, Planning and Environment 

Natalie Kouri-Towe
Associate Professor, Simone de Beauvoir Institute 

Alessandra Renzi
Associate Professor, Department of Communication Studies 

Student members

Jamila Ewais
PhD Candidate, Department of Geography, Planning and Environment 

Mick Hennessy
Masters student, Department of Etudes Françaises 

Graham Latham
PhD Student, Department of History