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The Historiography of the Arab-Israeli Conflict

Module description

In this module you will cover the major Islamist movements in the Middle East and Central Asia. Its aim is to explore the behaviour of these movements, understand their ideologies, and compare their similarities and differences in a cross-regional setting. You will also address the causes and the political consequences of the rise of Islamist movements in the Muslim-majority states. There are no pre- or co-requisites for this module.

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module covers the major Islamist movements in the Middle East and Central Asia. Its aim is to explore the behaviour of these movements, understand their ideologies, and compare their similarities and differences in a cross-regional setting. The module will also address the causes and the political consequences of the rise of Islamist movements in the Muslim-majority states.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Understand the role of historical narratives in regional and national conflicts
• 2. Demonstrate critical familiarity with current historiosophical and historiographical debates about the past;
• 3. Recognise how crucial is the historical narrative in informing the positions of the elites and people involved in the never ending conflict in Israel and Palestine

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 4. Deconstruct historical writing within a historiographical context;
• 5. Discuss the works of the professional historiography on both sides within a wider theoretical context
• 6. Demonstrate acumen in the various methodologies and how the impact historiography

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 7. Demonstrate critical and analytical skills through readings, class discussions and presentations
• 8. Contextualise case studies within wider theoretical discussions

Syllabus plan

Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some or all of the following:

The Theoretical Infrastructure: part 1 
The Theoretical Infrastructure: part 2 
The Zionist Narrative 
The Palestinian Narrative 
The New History in Israel 
Post-Zionism 
New Trends in Palestinian Historiography 
The Bridging Narrative 
The New-Zionist Historiography 
Religion and Historiography 
A Vision for the Future

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Ernest Bersiach, Historiography, Ancient, Medieval and Modern, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994.

Asima A. Ghazi-Biulion, Understanding the Middle East Peace Process: The Israeli Academia and the Struggle for Identity, London and New York: Routledge 2009.

John Hutchinson and Anthony Smith (eds.), Nationalism, Oxford: Oxford Papers 1994.

George G. Iggers, and Q. Edwards Wang, A Global History of Modern Historiography, Harlow: Pearson Education Limited, 2008.

Steven Kepnes (ed.), Interpreting Judaism in the post-Modernist Age, New York: New York University Press, 1998.

Ilan Pappe, The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, Oxford: One World (2006).

Ilan Pappe (ed.), The Israel/Palestine Question, Second Edition, London and New York, second edition, 2007.

Ilan Pappe, The Modern History Palestine, One Land, Two Peoples, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (2003; second Edition 2006).

Ilan Pappe. The Making of the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1947-1951, London and New York: Tauris, 1992 and 1994.

Eli Podeh, The Arab-Israeli Conflict in Israeli History Textbooks, 1948-2000, Westport: Bergin and Garway, 2002.

Michal Prior (ed.), Western Scholarship and the History of Palestine, Melisende London 1998.

I. Rotberg (ed.), Israel and Palestinian Narratives of Conflict; Historys Double Helix, Bloomington, Indiana University Press 2006.

Edward Said, The Question of Palestine, New York: Random House, 2003.

Anita Shapira and Derek J. Pensler (eds.), Israeli Historical Revision, From Left to Right, London: Frank Cass, 2003.

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

ELE – http://vle.exeter.ac.uk/

Key words search

Historiography, Arab Israeli Conflict, Religion and Historiography, Post-Zionism,