25th of June, 2016
The research cluster Conflict and Development based at the Department of Development Studies (DDS) organized a workshop to “Rethink research in/on Palestine”.

Since the Oslo accords, scientific research in/on the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt) has been reshaped by transformative Israeli occupation practices, the implementation of a neoliberal development agenda, and processes of societal restructuring of Palestinian communities. Shifting power relations through conflict and war also highly influenced and reconfigured knowledge production and its political implications. At the same time, many Palestinian scholars have been formulating a longstanding critique on orientalised, Eurocentric and top down research agendas and argue for alternative research methods, methodologies, and epistemologies.
The workshop provided a space for advanced MA students, PhD candidates, and early career researchers from European universities to critically discuss their research projects regarding the following questions:

• What are the main methodological, epistemological, and political challenges we are confronted when researching in/on Palestine?
• What are the main contradictions we are facing when doing research on Palestine at
  European universities?
• What does it mean to decolonize knowledge production on Palestine?

The fruitful workshop was a starting point to establish a network of PhD students and researchers that can be further elaborated due to a lacking of institutionalisation of Palestine Studies at European universities.

 

The Deanship of Planning and Quality Assurance, represented in the Dean Prof. Dr. Mahmoud Okasha and his assistant Dr. Ali Abu Zaid, organized an introductory meeting for the selected researchers to participate in the activities of “Rooting Development in the Palestinian Context” Project.

With funding from APPEAR (Austrian Partnership Program in Higher Education & Research for Development), the project is executed in partnership with Birzeit University and the University of Vienna. The project’s objectives included providing an alternative vision of development based on the integration between the different sectors of the Palestinian society and striving to reduce the gaps between academic theory procedures and methodologies based knowledge in order to preserve the Palestinian identity and consolidate the Palestinian development status that is different from the international models.

From Birzeit University, Mr. Ghassan Abuhatab, Projects Coordinator in the Development Studies Center stressed the specialty of this project on connecting together the researchers from the Gaza strip, West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and the researchers at the University of Vienna. From AUG, Dr. Abu Zaid, the project coordinator said that the Deanship will supervise the application of the project’s activities which will be implemented for 3 years.

 

Original post at AUG