I. Class Discussions/Facilitation/Conversation
Honestly, this class was different for me in a number of ways. It’s been three years since I’ve been in an undergraduate classroom as anything other than an instructor, so generally silence isn’t an issue for me in classes in which I’m a student. Graduate students can talk for hours about anything – and nothing! – so people trying to talk over others is more frequently an issue in classes in which I’m a student. I don’t think that silence in the classroom is a bad thing, and, as someone who often needs a few moments to process before I speak, I can understand the value of it.
That said, I think that for some reason people hesitated to talk in class because they were scared of being wrong. I’m not sure what caused this. I think everyone in the class was very open and respectful and down-to-earth, so I’m not sure what was behind the hesitancy. Maybe it would be helpful to bring the blogs into the class more. I think it did help when we started going through them in class. I felt like sometimes I didn’t know if it was “fair game” to bring the blogs into discussion a lot, so maybe outlining that would help at the beginning of the quarter – like, “I noticed in your blog . . .” Also, maybe having students help formally facilitate discussion would help? For example, two students could write discussion questions for each class.
II. Video Conferencing
I’m SO glad that we got to videoconference! I was really, really bummed when it looked like we weren’t going to get to videoconference with any Palestinian students. Though it wasn’t the same as getting to talk to students at Al-Quds who are affiliated with the project, I’m very happy that we got to talk with the activists in PYALARA, in addition to the professor and students from Hebrew University. Also, Salim Tamari was hilarious! I know that in some cases we did know this, but I wish I had a better understanding of the political leanings of some of the folks we were videoconferencing with. I found myself worried about asking questions – or asking certain questions – when I wasn’t sure where their “alliances fell,” so to speak. Also, I think it would be amazing if it were possible to videoconference while you all are in Jerusalem!
III. Readings and Topics
I thought the readings were appropriate. At first I was frustrated because I felt like I didn’t have a thorough understanding of the situation in Jerusalem, before we started reading about its ancient history. However, I feel like I better understand now why the readings were ordered the way that they were. Ten weeks later, I feel like I still don’t have a thorough understanding! I have a much, much deeper knowledge of, and appreciation for, the situation in Jerusalem and Israel-Palestine, but I also have a deeper understanding of how little I still know! I think to dive right into the current situation would have been really overwhelming. However, I do think that having Dr. Hermann’s lecture earlier in the quarter – as a way to help contextualize what the historical readings were leading up to – could have been helpful. I’m not sure, though.
IV. Lecturers and Speakers
My favorite lecturer was Dr. Hermann. I found his presentation to be very, very useful and he made the situation in Israel-Palestine MUCH more accessible than other times I have the information presented to me – either in writing or in written sources. Honestly, I wish we had gotten to see more of his material/lecture, though I know it would be difficult to give up two classes. I was also impressed with the fact that he gave both the Israeli positions and the Palestinian positions attention throughout his talk, and I was very appreciative of the fact that he seemed so open to our questions.
To be completely honest, I was more frustrated than anything with the presentations by Dr. Sessa and Dr. Swartz. Dr. Fudge, in my opinion, was more accessible than the other two, though I understand that the interplay between his subject position and his subject of study is different. But, coming from Women’s Studies, I find it, well, fairly infuriating (not to mention counterproductive) when scholars won’t examine their own stakes in their work. No one is objective. We may strive toward objectivity, but we are humans, with human emotions and connections. It gets messy. And to ignore the mess only allows it to fester while we create other ones. Wow. I guess I’m still riled up by this! I’m going to stop now.
V. Blogging
I really liked having the class blog as a central place to go to. It helped me “stay in touch” with the class outside of the class, if that makes sense. As the quarter went on, it was already really nice tos people sharing articles, pictures, relevant info, etc. on the blog, and it was a good place to prepare for speakers, etc. I also like keeping my own blog. It kept me accountable to keep up with the readings, too! I did feel like blogging twice a week got to be a lot, however. And I think that it kept me from commenting on other students’ blogs as much as I would like to, because I had some blog burn-out going on. I think that maybe having it be required to do one post and one thoughtful comment on another students’ blog per week might be more manageable. It might also help with class discussions too, because we’ll be more familiar with what we’ve all written!
VI. Syllabus
I struggled with the syllabus. I think it was largely a format thing, and I don’t know if part of this is because it was uploaded to googledocs. I don’t generally use googledocs, so I don’t know what whacky things it might to do formatting. But, I just felt like things were clumped together and it was easy to miss parts of assignments. I think it would be helpful to have things listed by day, rather than by week, and maybe bullet-pointed rather than written in narrative format.
VII. Final Project
I loved the final project!! Okay, there were moments were I didn’t love it – like when the sun was burning the retinas out of my eyes because I didn’t want to wear sunglasses when interviewing people, or when I had trouble finding people to interview who were wearing clothing that covered more than just the bare essentials. But, doing a media project was a really, really good learning experience for me. I study digital technologies, but I’m actually not very technologically saavy myself. Doing this project forced me to start using some of the technologies that I talk about – not only editing software, but also uploading my videos to my blog, youtube, etc. I feel like I picked up skills as well as knowledge in working on this final projetct. I also think it’s good that there was a paper option for students as well. Sometimes papers are what we need to produce, or they’re simply the right format for what we’re trying to do, so it’s good to have that option.
I’m also really glad that we shared our final projects with each other. It was really nice to see the work that everyone else was producing, especially in a class that’s normally so quiet! I thought the sharing of our project was very, very valuable. I was also impressed with the wide array of topics that people chose, and the different approaches that people took. It was a good way to end the class because it really showed me how MUCH more there is to learn and how many more sites of inquiry there are in this area.
VIII. Personal Reflections
I’ll admit it. I was nervous about this class. Mostly, I was nervous because Israel-Palestine is a very heated topic in the U.S., and in the past I’ve often found myself critiquing a majority opinion. I’ve also been called an anti-Semite for questioning the policies of the Israeli government, which was incredibly hurtful. Perhaps because of these past experiences, most of the recent conversations I’ve had with people have been with colleagues/friends, etc., who I know have viewpoints that are similar to mine. Additionally, as I’ve delved further into Middle East studies and Arabic – as well as transnational feminism – I simply interact more with people who are Arab and/or Muslim than people who are Jewish, so again, the conversations that do not necessarily cross cultural or political borders. While I think that kind of cross-dialogue is important, I was nervous about re-engaging with it!
I think one thing that putting myself back into this dialogic process has taught me is that I seriously need to work on separating the Israeli government and the Israeli people. I’m actually deeply ashamed to admit this. I feel like I work very hard to separate governments and people and to avoid generalizations and stereotypes. But, I think that perhaps I had gotten so swept up in the Palestinian side of the debate that I forgot that, well, there are people in Israel too. It is not this big, monolithic, aggressive, abusive monster. (I feel very ironic being a U.S. citizen and saying all of this.) This class has helped me to remember that – in every situation – compassionate listening, engagement, critique, and dialogue with all sides is what is most productive, even if it’s often the most difficult!