Postgraduate Module Descriptor

ARAM219: The Palestine Question: Past and Present

This module descriptor refers to the 2017/8 academic year.

Module Aims

This module aims to introduce you to one of the most important issue in the politics of the region and in the world at large. In doing so, it aims to enable you to understand the ways in which the scholarly debate on this issue has developed and how can the production of academic knowledge help to understand better the origins of the conflict in Israel and Palestine and the possible scenarios about its future.

It will also introduce you to the intriguing world of power and knowledge. You will acquaint yourself with recent theoretical and conceptual insights into this question that underpins every area of scholarly inquiry.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

This module's assessment will evaluate your achievement of the ILOs listed here - you will see reference to these ILO numbers in the details of the assessment for this module.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to:
Module-Specific Skills1. Understand the nature and importance of the scholarly research on topical issues at the top of the international agenda.
2. Reflect critically on the scholarly research on the Palestine Question
Discipline-Specific Skills3. Analyse and identify the role of narratives in scholarly studies of the Middle East
4. Demonstrate an understanding of the interdisciplinary methods upon which Area Studies and Middle East Studies are based;
5. Understand the strengths and weaknesses of a scholarly treatment of a topical issue such as the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Personal and Key Skills6. Demonstrate close reading, critical and analytical skills through readings, class discussions and presentations
7. Organise data effectively to produce a coherent argument to a deadline, both orally and in writing.

Indicative Reading List

This reading list is indicative - i.e. it provides an idea of texts that may be useful to you on this module, but it is not considered to be a confirmed or compulsory reading list for this module.

Ilan Pappe, A History of Modern Palestine; One Land, Two Peoples (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2nd edition 2010)

Ilan Pappe, The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, Oxford and New York: Oneworld Publications, 2007

Ilan Pappe, the Forgotten Palestinians; A History of the Palestinian Minority in Israel, London and New Haven: Yale University Press, 2010)

Ilan Pappe, The Israel/Palestine Question, London and New York: third edition, Routledge, 2012.

Beshara Doumani, Palestine Rediscovered; Merchants and Peasants in Jabal Nablus, 1700-1900, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995.

Rashid Khalidi, Palestinian Identity: the Construction of Modern National Consciousness, New York: Columbia University Press, 1998.

Edward Said, The Question of Palestine, London: Vintage 1992.

Anita Shapira,Israel: a History, Brandies: Brandies University Press, 2014.

Sholom Avineri, the Making of Modern Zionism, New York: Basic Books, 1981