Writing about this issue forced me to confront how much my understanding of conflict is shaped by proximity, cultural background, environment, and personal relationships. Before coming to Wesleyan, I had very little direct exposure to Jewish, Israeli, Palestinian, or Muslim communities. Growing up in Iowa, conversations about Israel and Palestine felt distant and abstract, and also through a Christian lens and the English language. The perspectives around me were often limited to sermons from the Christian faith hoping for a peaceful resolution as soon as possible. What that was, a two state solution or freedom for Palestinians in the Gaza strip or beyond, was unsaid and abstract. Being at Wesleyan changed that a bit, but also not as much as I hoped or assumed. Suddenly, the conflict was no longer something I encountered only through news headlines or social media. It became personal because of the identity as a college student continuing a history of student protest. While still indirect, people around me were personally affected.

What stood out most while reflecting on this experience two years after writing my initial reflection, was how difficult it is to hold multiple perspectives at once without collapsing into certainty or defensiveness. I noticed myself constantly reframing my thoughts depending on who I was speaking to. At first, I worried this meant I lacked conviction or knowledge, which was true. American jewish friends would ask me about news articles discussing horrors committed by palestinians which I had not read, when they were confronted about Israeli genocide. Now, conversations have stopped altogether. My friend who sat at the SJP table considers campus organizing as the biggest waste of her time on campus. The call for divestment failed, and Michael Roth’s handling of the Trump administration has been praised. I am no longer friends with my American-Israeli Jewish friend. I joined the young socialists group on campus, which has meetings with four students in attendance to discuss Iran’s history in relation to Israel and the United States.  In addition, it was the College of Letters who hosted young socialists meetings in the OCL library and Palestinian 101 teaching seminars, in addition to paying for Palestinian intellectuals to come talk as a part of a series. I will forever remember the COL professors for showing me that teaching is a vocation and that history is social justice. In his departure letter to my class, one of my professors said, “You were one of the absolute best Medieval Colloquia which I have had the privilege to teach. Together, in that context, we also navigated making sense of the Palestine encampment and protests and what that meant for class meetings: your combination of passion, openness, and intelligence taught me.” These words will forever move me.

As I reflect more deeply, I have realized that discomfort is actually part of intercultural learning. The GEM framework emphasizes the importance of engaging with complexity, uncertainty, and multiple perspectives rather than reducing issues into simple binaries. This reflection itself helped me recognize that intercultural competence sometimes means resisting the pressure to immediately arrive at a clear or fixed position, which is hard when there is pressure for action. Joan Scott in her 2025 Hallie lecture, named something I have long felt occurring on my college campus. She described the separation between rhetoric and political platform. That college is a safe place to privately say feelings about political events to then form a more public and platform to be defended. It is possible to denounce genocide, to name it and to hold that position, while questioning the situation at large and who is affected by it.

Friday, October 20, 2023

Assignment – I think it’s a huge opportunity to pause on this “critical incident” in our current lives and apply what we’re learning, like a microcosm of the global conflict.  What do you think about President Roth’s statements? about what your peers/professors/family back home are saying? What do you see going on from an intercultural lens?  What would you like people to understand as they process this conflict?  Keep in mind Knowledge, Attitude, Skills; the DMIS; the intercultural praxis model; the iceberg; the other metaphors.  Whatever comes to mind from what we’re learning in this class:

This issue has been on my mind for the past few weeks. As a midwesterner, being in an environment with Isrealies, Palestinians and American Jews and Muslims is new. There are so many perspectives and people of different positionalities to consider that a solution of peace is completely relative. I find myself reframing always, based on who I’m speaking to and in regard to current events on campus. My friend is very involved in the SJP and led a table for peace and displayed a banner outside Usdan. Neither were received well, with jests and photos taken,etc and I found that to be an example of how hard political organizing on this campus is. I feel grateful for the ability to truly empathize with news and individuals. For my Israeli friend, mourning family members’ loss physically and mentally to a militant society has been exhausting without community. When statistics and death tolls are only engaged with impersonally, and issues of great loss are spoken about in a detached way it can be harmful to those directly affected by suffering. I found the statement below an interesting new take on the issue by Micheal Roth as there is no example of what that comfort looks like on a campus with opposing views cohabiting the same space. I appreciate the sentiment and yet I don’t think thoughts of its weakness are misplaced. I would like people to understand the approach to the issue Micheal Roth is asking for which is not political but holistic, which doesn’t appear to have value to many.  If intercultural lenses are adopted there could be more discussions on the issue leading to awareness and learning. I feel I do not have enough Knowledge, and find many don’t, to have a deeper understanding of this critical incident. I believe I have the Attitude and some of the Skills, and yet feel incredibly detached from the conflict by my own positionality as someone who had never met anyone Jewish, Israeli or Palestinian until last year. Back home in Iowa, where there are larger amounts of anti-semitism there is no room for the Israeli point of view. There were immediate pro-Palestine reactions. I fear for Joe Biden’s approval rating and a Democratic reelection, Israeli and Jewish Iowan citizens and the conflict at large. 

Email from anonomous COL Professor, November 29th, 2023:

On behalf of the Faculty Ad Hoc Network on Palestine I invite you to study and learn with what we are calling The Palestine Seminar (capturing a wider geographic region & longer chronology than any single contemporary state). This is an unusual seminar format (“very Wesleyan”): a collaborative course of study for anyone & everyone from the entire Wesleyan community to come and learn together. In the spirit of as many departments contributing what they can to this educational moment, the College of Letters is offering our library to be the initial meeting location.

The format is simple: a reading seminar open to the community; come as often as you can.

  • This is meant to facilitate slow and intentional education, not about fast answers. So different from say a single lecture or a panel or forum, this opportunity is provided to facilitate learning with and through and from each other in community…