Rising Voices: Bedouin Youth Navigating Education and the Future amidst Protracted Conflict

dc.contributor.advisorHirsch, Susan F.
dc.contributor.advisorCheldelin, Sandra
dc.contributor.authorTolley, Terra Alysa
dc.creatorTolley, Terra Alysa
dc.date.accessioned2015-07-29T18:35:59Z
dc.date.available2015-07-29T18:35:59Z
dc.date.issued2015
dc.description.abstractAccess to education is one of the foundational steps to improving agency and equality in a social system, and it is a prominent theme in the responses to conflict through peacebuilding, international development, and the conflict analysis and resolution field more broadly. Bedouin youth are the most academically marginalized and the lowest performing population within Israel. Ahed School, a Bedouin high school for science and technology in the Naqab, is an exception in that it is outperforming the majority of Israeli schools. This modified ethnographic case study draws on field interviews of students, educators, and a wide range of Bedouin community members, to analyze the role of education amidst protracted conflict. The argument is made that the very educational systems that can enhance agency for marginalized populations in a conflict setting may also lessen the saliency of Bedouin cultural and ethnic identity. Moreover, such schools might further the Israeli state agenda of Bedouin assimilation and acquiescence. The focus on Ahed School in a landscape of asymmetric conflict illuminates multilayered tensions, such as marginalization versus empowerment, alienation versus acceptance, and violent versus safe spaces for education, all of which may be relevant for understanding other, similar contexts. The analysis shows how the model of education promoted in the Ahed School both challenges and supports traditional notions of Bedouin culture, gender dynamics, and identity. Overall, the dissertation shows that educational systems provide a key site for addressing conflict.
dc.format.extent319 pages
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1920/9636
dc.language.isoen
dc.rightsCopyright 2015 Terra Alysa Tolley
dc.subjectCultural anthropology
dc.subjectMiddle Eastern studies
dc.subjectSocial research
dc.subjectBedouin
dc.subjectConflict
dc.subjectEducation
dc.subjectNegotiation
dc.titleRising Voices: Bedouin Youth Navigating Education and the Future amidst Protracted Conflict
dc.typeDissertation
thesis.degree.disciplineConflict Analysis and Resolution
thesis.degree.grantorGeorge Mason University
thesis.degree.levelDoctoral

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