Doing Research under Occupation – Knowledge Production in and about Palestine

In light of a rapid transformation of Palestinian society due to political conflict, war and Israeli domination in the occupied Palestinian territory, this workshop provides a space for critical reflections on social science knowledge production, its impact and future developments. Given the rising (Palestinian) critique of research practices by (Western) scholars, journalists and international NGOs, we will discuss alternative approaches.

By using different teaching methods, the participants of the workshop will learn how to deal with some of the main challenges and contradictions when doing research in/on Palestine.

Drawing on rich experiences of the APPEAR project Rooting Development in the Palestinian Context (see http://rootingdevelopment.com/), we will focus on the following questions:

• How can gender critical community based research affect the current political, social and economic situation of Palestinians in their respective locations?

• Who should take a leading and formative role in research designs and questions? What research methodologies do we use?

• What is the aim of conducting research from a gender critical perspective? For whom is research designed? Who will/shall benefit from research? Who will/can exploit results?

• What are political implications of knowledge production from within Palestinian refugee camps?

• What is the linkage between ‘objectivity’ and politics? In which way can a demand for ‘objectivity’ be an effective instrument to avoid engaged research?

• What ethical responsibilities do we carry towards the researched communities? Who will benefit from our research?

Dr. Helmut Krieger is a researcher and lecturer at the Department of Development Studies (DDS) at the University of Vienna. He earned his PhD from the University of Vienna’s Department of Political Science, where he wrote his dissertation on the power nexus between the Israeli occupation regime, donor industries, the Palestinian Authority, and the Islamic movement in Palestine, from the perspective of materialist state theories. Currently, he is the DDS’ coordinator in a research and cooperation project entitled Rooting Development in the Palestinian Context, funded by APPEAR (see http://rootingdevelopment.com/).

Recent publications include: ‘Food Sovereignty and Alternative Development in Palestine’ (2018) as a special issue guest editor, as co-editor ‘Krise, Revolte und Krieg in der arabischen Welt‘ (2017), and the monograph ‘Umkämpfte Staatlichkeit. Palästina zwischen Besatzung, Entwicklung und politischem Islam‘ (2015).

Limited seating capacity, please register with edith.lanser(at)uni-graz.at by 19th November 2018