Workshop | Rooting Research in the Palestinian Context: Alternative Methodologies and Concepts
with Ayman Rezeqallah, Birzeit University, Palestine
Seminar room SG 2, Department of Development Studies, Sensengasse 3, 1090 Vienna 10 May 2019, 12.00 – 6.00pm
The workshop explores and questions mainstream social science research in the Palestinian context. It asks how we can develop alternative research approaches and analytical frameworks that can tackle the rapid transformation of the Palestinian society due to political conflict, war and Israeli military occupation of the Palestinian territories. Given the rising (Palestinian) critique of research practices by (Western) scholars and international NGOs, the workshop further sheds light on understanding the political, economic and social complexities of territorial and social fragmentation.
- What does it mean to include Palestinian communities residing in neighbouring countries having their right to return to their homeland suspended for more than six decades in our research?
- What are ethical responsibilities towards the (researched) communities and how can we translate (local) experiences and struggles into academic knowledge production?
- How can the communities we work with access and use the produced data as well as our research?
In the first part of the workshop, Ayman Rezeqallah will provide insights and challenges of producing knowledge within this complex research environment. In a second step, he will discuss his experiences of developing and implementing a multidirectional research project on Palestinian youth’s identities and community participation in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, Lebanon, and Jordan.
Ayman Rezeqallah is Researcher and Survey Unit coordinator at the Center for Development Studies at Birzeit University. He has spent nearly 20 years in community research and programs focused on marginalized groups including women, youth, people with disability, children, and Palestinian refugees in Palestine, Jordan and Lebanon. He is the project coordinator of the APPEAR higher education cooperation project Rooting Development in the Palestinian Context funded by the Austrian Development Agency.
Click here to download the event poster.
The workshop will be held in English and is accessible for wheelchairs. It is hosted by the Department of Development Studies at the University of Vienna. Please register for the workshop and send an e-mail to [email protected]