5th Annual Conference Education for Liberation and Social Justice

The Institute of Women’s Studies- Birzeit University 5th Annual ConferenceEducation for Liberation and Social JusticeDear friends:We are delighted to invite you to the 5th Annual Conference on Wednesday, March, 13, 2013 in the Institute of Women’s Studies conference hall (104).Under the title, Education for Liberation and Social Justice, this year's conference will explore educational issues in their articulation with social, economic and political structures.  The conference seeks to draw a preliminary theoretical frame for directing education and knowledge production in colonial Palestine towards liberation and social justice. By situating the issue of education within the wider context of Palestine’s contemporary colonial, neoliberal and gendered power structures the conference aims to provide a forum for reflection, debate and new thinking among the array of actors interested in education. We are particularly excited to welcome our keynote speaker, Dr. Salim Vally.Salim Vally is the director of the Centre for Education Rights and Transformation, at the Faculty of Education, University of Johannesburg and the coordinator of the Education Rights Project. He continues to publish (5 books, 40 journal articles and 35 chapters in peer reviewed books) while agreeing with the late Howard Zinn that “most academics publish while others perish” and therefore continues with his abiding interest in linking academic scholarship with societal concerns, community participation and global solidarity. Vally was a leading member of the South African Students Movement in 1976/1977 and left the country after its banning by the erstwhile apartheid regime and after severe repression. He returned to South Africa in 1982, taught at secondary schools and worked for progressive literacy organisationsOver the past four years, the IWS conference has proven to be an exciting venue for critical debate and exchange amongst students, academics, government representatives, NGOs and activists from all walks of life on gender and gender justice. This year's conference theme engages us in a range of issues of especial importance to us at this particular juncture in Palestinian history. We very much hope that you will join us in what promises to be an engaging and inspiring set of papers and discussions.