Curriculum Conflict and Identity Students examine themes that emerge from living in a conflicted society and analyze how these themes impact the construction of identity. A major component of the course is a concluding exercise in which students are asked to model peace negotiations. Zionism Students examine the political,cultural, and religious roots of the Zionist movement and trace their influence on the formation and development of the State of Israel. The course includes an extensive field trip which focuses on major Zionist ideologies and their historical pre-State and contemporary Israeli expression. Historical Geography of Palestine Elements of archaeology, geology, migration patterns, and study of natural resources make up this course which is taught in the format of an extended intensive field trip.
Travel includes the whole of Israel and Palestine.
This course enables students to understand the complexities of Israeli politics. Students will examine the evolution of politics in the twentieth century through the impact of parties, groups, communities, and individuals. The role of secular and religious Jews, Ashkenazi and Sephardic communities, ethnic minorities, the military and militarism, class and gender, kibbutzim, development towns, and urban centers in Israeli society are the focus of this course. This course will trace the evolution of Palestinian society from the Ottoman period to the present. It will discuss themes of urbanization, gender, class, the role of the intelligentsia and the urban elites, the connection between Gazan and West Bank Palestinians and those in the diaspora, and the impact of nationalism on the evolution of Palestinian society.