Birzeit professors discuss education under occupation at Michigan State University conference

Ghada Almadbouh, a professor of political science at Birzeit University, and Islah Jad, a faculty member at the Institute of Women’s Studies, presented papers on education under the Israeli occupation in a conference held at Michigan State University on Thursday and Friday, April 11 and 12, 2019. 

The conference is held annually by the university’s Muslim Studies Program. This year, the organizers focused on “Education Under Siege: Attacks on Scholars and Scholarship in Turbulent Times,” with sessions revolving around the impact of Islamophobia on education in North America and Europe, increased attacks on academic freedom with the rise of authoritarianism in the Middle East and South Asia, and the struggle to uphold and protect the right to  education under occupation. 

The papers presented by Jad and Almadbouh explored the impact of Israeli military orders on the educational process in Palestine and the effect of the occupation of women’s education. 

The Institute of Women’s Studies at Birzeit University, established in 1994, is the first academic initiative in gender studies in Palestine and one of only two such programs in the Arab world. Leaders in their field, the institute and its academic program offer the first graduate degree in gender studies (master of arts in gender and development) in the Middle East and North Africa region.