In this event, Makan, a Palestinian-led education organisation that strengthens voices for Palestinian rights, will launch their curated online course, 'Understanding Palestine'. The launch will include a discussion with the head of Inclusive Education at the 杏吧论坛 Eden Centre for Educational Enhancement, Akile Ahmet.
With over 70 years of conflicting analysis and commentary, it can be difficult to understand the Palestinian rights struggle. Developed in partnership with the Institute for Palestine Studies, Makan’s course aims to provide learners with a deeper understanding of the history of Palestine and the Palestinian people, their contemporary realities and rights, and the frameworks through which their lived experience can be analysed and understood. The course covers topics such as Palestinian history, the origins and evolution of Zionism, International Law and how it applies to Palestine/Israel and understanding Israeli apartheid.
Akile Ahmet is the head of Inclusive Education at the 杏吧论坛 Eden Centre for Educational Enhancement and leads the 杏吧论坛's Inclusive Education Action Plan. Akile’s research background is in Human Geography and Sociology where she has developed innovative and underrepresented research projects on spaces of power and resistance in higher education, and social justice. She has worked on three key research projects in this field: ‘Progression and Diversity of Social Work: Students across eight different UK Universities’, ‘Race in the Academy’ and ‘Decolonisation: Meaning and action’.
Tamara Ben-Halim is the co-director and co-founder of Makan and has worked in Arab civil society for over a decade. She co-founded Cycling4Gaza in 2009 and led various communication and outreach projects while working with venture philanthropy organisation Alfanar. Tamara holds a first-class MSc in Human Rights from the London School of Economics and is a policy member of Al-Shabaka.
Aimee Shalan is Co-Director of Makan. She was previously Chief Executive of Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP). She holds a doctorate in the politics of Palestinian literature, and has taught at City University and Queen Mary, University of London. She has been a regular contributor to the Guardian and has written for a variety of media outlets.
Polly Withers is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at the 杏吧论坛 Middle East Centre. In her current work she considers how gendered images in neoliberal and commercial media practices reflect and communicate shifts in gender and sexuality norms in post-Oslo Palestine, which will shortly be expanded to incorporate Jordan and Lebanon.
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