Conceptualising citizenship from an educational perspective in the occupied West Bank

ABSTRACT

Citizenship is a contested term and its meanings and implications vary according to the socio-political and historical context in which it originated and continues to be practiced. This research explores the conceptualisation of citizenship among different groups within the Palestinian education system. The research utilises qualitative research methods such as interviews, focus groups, policy document analysis, and classroom observations. The findings of the research reveal that citizenship represents a unique relationship between the individuals and the homeland. Moreover, this research demonstrates how politics and culture affect citizenship conception. It also demonstrates how the absence of Palestinian statehood affects the perception towards citizenship amongst the participants in this research. The study concludes that the existing definitions of citizenship could be adapted, rather than merely adopted from other contexts when applied to the unique Occupied Palestinian context.

KEYWORDS:

• Conceptualisation of citizenship
• citizenship education
• Palestine
• occupation
• patriotism

Acknowledgment

Professor Matt Baillie Smith and Dr. Mark Griffiths are appreciated for their contributions of knowledge and insight to the development and implementation of this project. Special thanks and admiration are extended to the University of Massachusetts at Boston for hosting the first author during her Taawon and the Bank of Palestine (BoP)/Zamala fellowship and for providing all the required resources.

Disclosure statement

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

Notes

1. IRB form was approved by Northumbria University, UK, during my post-doctoral fellowship 2018–2019.

2. The participant said globalisation in English, so I had to write it as it is.

Additional information

Funding

This article is based on research funded by the Universities UK International Rutherford Fund Strategic Partnership Grant between An-Najah National University and the Centre for International Development at Northumbria University. The research was also financed by Taawon and the Bank of Palestine (BoP)/Zamala, which allowed the first author to spend time at the University of Massachusetts Boston to produce this article.