Between construction and destruction: the experience of educationalists at Gaza’s universities

ABSTRACT

Drawing on 36 in-depth semi-structured interviews with students and lecturers at Gaza’s universities, this article explores the past and present higher education (HE) experience for educationalists in Gaza, and how this experience may be evolving in the shifting socio-political context in the Arab world. The research was conducted during the period 2012–2017 as part of an inductive PhD in Education study at the University of Cambridge. Combining Western theory and literature with Southern empirical data from the Gaza Strip, this paper reveals a simultaneous process of construction and destruction that continues to undermine the academic functioning of Gaza’s universities. Highlighting this structure of ‘de-development’ is important in order to gain a deeper understanding of the Palestinian HE experience, and to empower academic reform at Gaza’s universities and beyond.

KEYWORDS:

• Higher education
• Gaza universities
• de-development
• conflict
• reform

Acknowledgments

The author wishes to thank the participants from Gaza for sharing their experiences, and Diane Reay for supervising this research. The author appreciates feedback from Diane, and two anonymous reviewers on drafts of this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1. ‘Hamas’ is an Arabic acronym of Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement.

2. ‘Fatah’ is an Arabic acronym of Palestinian National Liberation Movement.

3. The use of ‘de-mobility’ is influenced by Roy’s (1995) ‘de-development’, indicating a structure that discourages mobility.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, (Gates Cambridge Scholarships; [Award ID: OPP1144]).