Teacher Identity and Affective Nationalism among Palestinian Teachers in an Elite Arab School in Israel

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  In Roundtable Session: Against the Tide: Teachers of Color Navigating Challenging School Contexts

Abstract

This article is grounded in two central assumptions: What characterizes the identity of Palestinian teachers in an elite Arab high school in Israel; and to what extent teacher identity contributes to producing and cultivating elite identity within Palestinian society. To explore these questions, fourteen interviews were conducted with teachers at a selective Arab Christian Church school. The findings reveal four components of teacher identity: strong positive emotions (pride, passionate love, devotion); the production of an elite habitus oriented toward communal service; the formation of a national-Palestinian habitus; and the cultivation of a Palestinian elite habitus competing with the Jewish elite. The discussion analyzes how teachers use affective nationalism as resistant capital, seen as cultural capital, to support minoritized elite students.

Authors

• Avihu Shoshana, University of Haifa

• Reem Jabreen, University of Haifa