Covid-19 and the decolonisation of education in Palestinian universities

Abstract

Despite the severe social, health, political and economic impacts of the outbreak of Covid-19 on Palestinians, we contend that one positive aspect of this pandemic is that it has revealed the perils and shortcomings of the teacher-centered, traditional education which colonizes students’ minds, compromises their analytical abilities and, paradoxically, places them in a system of oppression which audits their ideas, limits their freedoms, and curtails their creativity. While Israeli occupation has proven to be an obstacle in the face of the Palestinian government’s attempt to combat and contain the Corona crisis, on-line education, the sole arena that escapes this colonial system, has forced many instructors to give up their domination over the process of education and to create a more collaborative atmosphere of education that is based on dialogue, research and flexibility of the curriculum content. This study is designed to gauge English literature students’ responses to this mode of digital learning. We interviewed a hundred students from six English literature programs between March and August, 2020. Thus, through critically examining students’ answers, and by drawing on Freire’s concepts of banking education, consciousness and dialogue, we propose that online education is an important step towards the decolonization of education and a call for a paradigm shift on the account that the existing paradigm of traditional education is stifling students’ creativity and critical thinking.

Keywords:

• COVID-19
• pandemic
• digital learning
• teacher-centred education
• paradigm shift
• literature education

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Bilal Hamamra

Bilal Hamamra has a PhD in Early Modern Drama from the University of Lancaster, UK and works currently as an assistant professor of English Literature at the Department of English Language and Literature, An-Najah National University, Nablus, Palestine. His research interests are in Early Modern Drama, Shakespeare, Women's Writings, Gender Studies, Palestinian Studies and Pedagogy. His articles on language, gender politics, martyrdom and diaspora have appeared in Early Modern Literary Studies, Critical Survey, ANQ, Journal for Cultural Research, Journal of Gender Studies, Journal of Contemporary Asia, Anglia, Psychodynamic Practice, The Explicator, Comparative Literature: East & West, Middle East Critique, English: Journal of the English Association, Journal of Modern Jewish Studies and Changing English, among others.

Nabil Alawi

Nabil Alawi is an Associate Professor of American literature and translation at Arab Open University, Palestine. He holds a PhD degree in American literature of the 19th century from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. Alawi published research papers in the domains of literature, intertextuality, translation and teaching English as a foreign language. He also has a special interest in the study of cultural and social issues. Email: [email protected]

Abdel Karim Daragmeh

Abdel Karim Daragmeh has a PhD in modern and contemporary literature and literary theory from Southern Illinois University, Illinois, USA; Associate professor of modern and contemporary literature at the English Department, An-Najah National University; co-founder of the American Studies; director of the Master's program in comparative literature; director of The Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning; Author of research on African, Arab and American contemporary literatures, translation studies, and faculty professional development program. Email: [email protected]