Reading in Solidarity: Resisting the Curricular Status Quo with Palestinian Youth & Literature

• In Event: Supporting Youth Activism in Hostile Times: Case Studies in Deepening YPAR Practices

Abstract

1. Objectives or Purposes: As a scholar, educator, and Palestinian-American woman, I explore how book clubs provide opportunities to constructively dialogue about Palestinian students’ stories and histories. This presentation seeks to uplift teachers curious and eager to address Palestine during this politically contentious time. I examine how Palestinian-American adolescents construct identity and meaning through their literary transactions. My paper examines how teachers and students resist Palestinian erasure by talking about their histories and family legacies in a supportive, healing-centered book club group setting.

2. Theoretical Framework: Literature circles foster student engagement with literature. This is accomplished by teaching students to interrogate and reflect on selected texts by 1) making critical and personal connections; and 2) using textual evidence to support their assertions (Jocius & Shealy, 2018). Literature circles provide structured support for teachers and students eager to read texts that resonate with them in meaningful ways (Daniels, 2023). They help students “find and express their true voices” (Sprague et al., 2006, p. 24). As Polleck (2010; 2022) suggested, the process of reading provides youth with opportunities to see themselves in the text, or to expose them to different identities, communities, and experiences.

3. Methods: I hosted a book club with five Palestinian-American adolescents during their senior year of high school. The book club provided a lens to understand how youth structured and organized their social worlds (Ajrouch, 2004). Data is presented and interpreted using portraiture as the primary methodology (Dixson, et al., 2005; Lawrence-Lightfoot & Davis, 1997). This phenomenological and ethnographic approach guides my focus as I narrate participants’ experiences in order to show “what's good?” about their experiences, both in and out of the book club.

4. Data Sources: I analyze and interpret data from my 10-week-long book club observations and video recordings, as well as the students’ testimonies from conversations that took place in and outside the book club. I include results from the book club’s pre-, and post-interviews with five Palestinian-American girls.

5. Results: The results from this study indicate powerful healing-centered outcomes of the book club. Teaching with compassion and support resulted in students feeling comfortable in moments of vulnerability. These critical points functioned as bridges that connected students with each other and the literary texts. This outcome was supported by a compassionate learning environment where students and I felt safe to express intimate parts of our lives while developing bonds with each other.

6. Scholarly Significance: This study attempts to rectify the limiting and discriminatory curricular practices that have historically subjugated Palestinian adolescents through erasure, marginalization, and stigmatization. I offer solutions that show how curriculum can be used to mutually uplift and affirm the experiences of teachers and students who have dealt with various forms of censorship. I argue teachers must center youth voices, offer diverse texts, and contextualize the sociopolitical realities of the world in which we live. This pedagogy supports positive, productive, and constructive identity development. At the end of the presentation, I provide a recommended list of literature, films, and music suggestions for teachers.

Author

• Rashida Mustafa, Teachers College, Columbia University