Contemplating Palestine: matters of truth and justice with rage, love and anger

In this essay, in conversation with Azmi Bishara's Palestine: Matters of Truth and Justice, I am wrestling with how to write about Palestine, at the same moment that I am contending with the media's erasure and dehumanisation of Palestinian life, in January 2023. And here I am again, on 19 October, 2023, with the proofs for this piece arriving in my inbox, while witnessing bombs rain down on Gaza; a second Nakba and genocide that has the world's full awareness and legitimacy. I wrote and write, full of rage, full of anger and full of love

Intercultural Experience and Learning Among EAP International Students

The trend toward greater enrolment of EFL speaking international students into institutions of higher education (IHE) in the West, is well documented. In response to this drive for greater levels of international participant, a newer trend has arisen: among these institutions more and more students who do not meet the language proficiency criteria are being accepted on the condition that they undergo and complete programs at specified language education institutions. This shift in cross-border EFL student enrolment practice is responsible for the creation of adjunct language schools, where students who have been accepted to a given university may be educated in English for Academic Purposes (EAP) on the campus itself. In Canada, the completion of such an adjunct EAP bridge program eliminates the need for an EFL student to retake any of the recognized English proficiency tests -- such as the IELTS -- in order to commence their intended academic programs. While the student perspective in study abroad has been researched and reported in a significant number of contexts, the adjunct EAP student experience is not quite like any of these other contexts. Thus far, little research attention has been paid to the lived experience of cross-border language learners who are attending adjunct EAP programs. In consideration of the rapid growth in the number of EAP initiatives, and the evolving nature of EAP education, this research seeks to encounter, document, and interpret the voices of those students for whom adjunct EAP programs are one of the only ways to enter IHE. This study reports on why these students come, what they hope to achieve, what they experience upon arrival, and how their intercultural participation and learning is enabled and constrained in their in-school and out-of-school lives

Seeing Israel through Palestine: knowledge production as anti-colonial praxis

Knowledge production in, for and by settler colonial states hinges on both productive and repressive practices that work together to render its history and present ‘normal’ by controlling how, where, to and through whom it tells its story. This makes the production and dissemination of knowledge an important battleground for anti-colonial struggles. The State of Israel, in its ongoing search for patrons and partners, is focused on how to produce and appropriate ‘knowledge’, and the arenas in which it is developed and shared. In so doing, it works to reshape critique of its political, social and economic relations and redefine the moral parameters that inform its legitimacy and entrench its irrefutability. Inspired by existing literature on and examples of anti-colonial struggles, this paper challenges the modalities through which Israel produces and normalises the colonial narrative. By critiquing existing representations of the Israeli state – and the spaces and structures in which these take hold – our article contributes to the range of scholarship working to radically recalibrate knowledge of ‘Israel’ and ‘Palestine’. As part of this work, the article purposefully centres indigenous anti-colonial frameworks that reconnect intellectual analysis of settler colonial relations, with political engagements in the praxis of liberation and decolonisation

Yara Hawari, Sharri Plonski, and Elian Weizman, eds., “Settlers and Citizens: A Critical View of Israeli Society” (New Texts Out Now)

The work on the Special Issue started with the 2015 SOAS Palestine Society Conference, held at SOAS, University of London. The project has since evolved through the writings of its contributors, the intellectual guidance of its reviewers, and our collaborations as the editorial team. Bringing critical studies of Palestine into conversation with a critical study of Israel’s internal workings, the Special Issue offers a platform through which the two intertwine and form a united body of knowledge on the settler-colonial realities in which they are situated. Working against the analytical separation between settler-colonial studies and indigenous studies, the Special Issue challenges the epistemological boundaries that usually frame the study of Israeli state and society, namely, its placement in the “disciplinary” boundaries of “Israel studies,” and with it, the tendency to disconnect this work the political project of liberation, on which the field of settler colonial studies should thrive. By situating these studies firmly within the field of Palestine studies, the task of understanding the particular operations of the settler state and society connects to the process of unsettling the colonial order and contributing to its dismantling. Thus, more explicitly, the goal of this project overall has been to contribute to the intellectual and critical resources of the growing international solidarity movement with the Palestinian people’s struggle for liberation

Examining the Perspectives and Experiences of Nutrition Educators Working with Clients in Substance Use Recovery Settings

Substance use disorder (SUD) is one of the most detrimental health, social, and economic problems in the United States. Limited studies suggest providing tailored nutrition education during SUD treatment correlates with positive recovery outcomes. The University of Kentucky Nutrition Education Program conducted two focus group sessions to explore and determine educators’ instructional and programmatic needs who deliver nutrition education to clients in substance use recovery throughout Kentucky. The study team identified four emerging themes and several subthemes related to Nutrition Education Program educators working with clientele in recovery. The four emerging themes included: (1) current experiences working with the audience, (2) relevant components in the current curriculum, (3) suggested new and expanded resources for future curriculum, and (4) guidance to assistants new to the audience. Our research findings contribute to the development of new programmatic materials that are better suited to meet clients’ needs in recovery and ultimately improve SUD recovery outcomes. With increased knowledge on this emerging research topic, the University of Kentucky Nutrition Education Program will directly benefit Kentucky residents who suffer from SUD and experience its detrimental social and health implications

Inovação, ciência e os lugares da universidade

The search for the ideal place is present in Brazilian culture, as illustrated by the expression “put yourself in your place”. And it also manifests itself in very diverse cultures, such as that of native Mexican tribes, as masterfully portrayed by the anthropologist and writer Carlos Castañeda in A erva do diabo. The article’s search for the university’s ideal place in the wider society, based on an examination of the notable inflections that the ideas of innovation and the university have undergone in recent history, reveals that there is no such point. The reasons are diverse. On the one hand, each university embodies a singular utopia. And, as a result of the intertwining of the trajectories of innovation and the university, the latter began to assume multiple roles in their respective societies. This article suggests a change of focus: instead of looking for “the” ideal place, cultivate university eutopias, achievable spaces that contribute to the materialization of the dreams of the societies that sustain them.A busca do lugar ideal está presente na cultura brasileira, como ilustra a expressão “coloque-se no seu lugar”. E se manifesta também em culturas bem diversas, como a de tribos nativas mexicanas, como retratado com maestria pelo antropólogo e escritor Carlos Castañeda em A erva do diabo. A busca do lugar ideal da universidade na sociedade ampla, feita neste artigo a partir do exame das notáveis inflexões que as ideias de inovação e de universidade tiveram ao longo da história recente, revela que esse ponto certo não existe. As razões são diversas. Por um lado, cada universidade corporifica uma utopia singular. E, em decorrência do entrelaçamento das trajetórias da inovação e da universidade, esta passou a assumir múltiplos papéis nas respectivas sociedades. Este artigo sugere uma mudança de foco: ao invés de buscar “o” lugar ideal, cultivar eutopias universitárias, espaços realizáveis que contribuam para a materialização dos sonhos das sociedades que as sustentam