Spiritual and indigenous funds of knowledge: how Palestinian Muslim teachers reclaim Islam and citizenship education in Israel

Abstract

ABSTRACT Scholars have argued for better integration of religion and citizenship education through overarching goals of interreligious tolerance and inclusive citizenship. Yet, such debates often neglect the political dimensions of these subjects. In this study, we explore how Palestinian Muslim teachers in Israel interpret the intersections of Islam and citizenship education and how they draw on this intersection in their teaching. Through qualitative interviews with 15 citizenship and Islam teachers, we found that most teachers ground this relationship in their spiritual Islamic and indigenous Palestinian funds of knowledge. In their teaching, these funds can serve as counterhegemonic tools to deconstruct dominant forms of citizenship and Islam as defined by the Israeli state. We argue that the hybridization of these funds of knowledge has important educational implications for conceptualizing more critical and culturally relevant forms of Islam and citizenship education.