Abstract
This study focuses on how young Palestinians in the diaspora understand their identity, and whether this understanding, as well external perceptions of identity, shape their political actions in terms of solidarity movements with Palestine on Ontario campuses. Eight Palestinian activists (aged 19 – 32) were interviewed about their perceptions of identity and experiences of activism. The findings suggest that the participants have a strong Palestinian identity maintained by their connections to home and their involvement in Palestinian activism. The participants’ engagement with activism reinforced their Palestinian identity, pointing to the interconnected relationship between identity and political action. When examining the experiences of activism on campus, participants garnered support but also faced challenges from pro-Israel groups and university administrations. The implications of these findings are significant to political and academic freedom in Canada and will hopefully encourage universities to foster nondiscriminatory political debate and ensure that all voices are heard.
Highlights
This study focuses on how young Palestinians in the diaspora understand their identity, and whether this understanding, as well external perceptions of identity, shape their political actions in terms of solidarity movements with Palestine on Ontario campuses
Section 2: Literature Review: Identity Construction This section begins with an exploration of the terms identity, collective identity, collective memory, national identity, and diaspora, which will be used throughout this paper
When Zionist forces entered Palestine and the UN announced the birth of the state of Israel in 1948, between 77% and 83% of the Palestinians who lived in the area became refugees (Sa’di, 2002)
Summary
Identity Construction This section begins with an exploration of the terms identity, collective identity, collective memory, national identity, and diaspora, which will be used throughout this paper. There have been efforts to shut down the conference titled “Israel/Palestine: Mapping Models of Statehood and Paths to Peace” at York University in 2009, and attacks in the National Post aimed at an OISE (University of Toronto) graduate student who was writing her thesis on Israeli apartheid (Nadeua & Sears, 2011) This silencing campaign relies on the logic that Palestinian existence complicates the narrative of the state of Israel, which is that Israel is a promised land for the Jewish people, who, though once oppressed, have claimed the right to self-determination in their ancestral home (Nadeau & Sears, 2010). Participants were given a chance to review the paper before it was submitted to ensure that they were comfortable with the level of accuracy and confidentiality
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