Courses that integrate student action for social change, social justice and
human rights
2009/10 academic year
Adv. Dana Myrtenbaum, Noor Falach and Dr. Sagit Mor
Law School, the Haifa Legal Feminism Clinic, University of Haifa
Course title: Legal Feminism and Social Change
The program is a unique cooperation between the Haifa University’s Faculty of law and ItachMaaki – Women Lawyers for Social Justice, a Jewish-Arab feminist legal advocacy
organization. The program’s vision is to promote access to justice for women from
disadvantaged communities and marginalized individuals, as well as to challenge the existing
power structure in the legal world and its gender and cultural blindness. Through this unique
program Jewish and Arab law students have the opportunity to openly and critically engage
with questions of intergroup relations, power, and accessibility.
The program aspires to impact future lawyers by exposing Jewish and Arab law students at
the University of Haifa to women’s struggles and strength, and to the power of the law in the
process of social change. Along with the law students, a group of Arab and Jewish women
from marginalized communities go through an empowerment process as they are trained to
be “legal leaders” whose voices will be heard in the public sphere and who are committee to
issues of gender and status shared by all marginalized Israeli women.
Pairing together women leaders and law students, the program’s participants act together in
designing and implementing seed projects to enable marginalized voices of women and
disempowered communities to be heard and seen by decision-makers, the legal system,
courts, media, the general public and more. The model, co-coordinated by a Jewish attorney
and an Arab-Druze psychologist, equips a multi-cultural group of women activists and law
students with effective social change tools and guides them in their quest for long term social
change.
Projects developed by the program include: empowering Arab and Jewish women in providing
legal assistance by making accessible the Family Court in Haifa; promoting and advancing
the rights of Arab-Druze women in the divorce process; construction of a rehabilitation
program for women involved in prostitution and raising public awareness to their situation,
and more.
Hagith Gor Ziv and Galia Zalmansson
Kibbutzim College of Education
Course title: Education for Social Justice, Environmental Justice and Peace Education
This teachers’ training program of four years for B.Ed aims at building the teachers’ capacity
to educate children toward social justice and peace, raising their awareness to gender
inequalities and other forms of discrimination in education. The students practical training is
performed in organizations for social change, and in schools at disadvantaged communities,
including Jewish-Arab student activist organization Mahapach-Taghir, Arab-Jewish projects in
Jaffa, and the Jewish and Arab Women’s Association in Rosh Ha’Ayin. Students are required
to implement ideas of alternative education, and innovative relevant pedagogy for children
from marginalized groups.
The group of students participating in the program reflects in itself the various segments of
Israeli society and provides an unparalleled space for intergroup dialogue – Palestinian and
Jewish, migrant workers, disabled students, young and old, from the center and from the
periphery. Students speak seven different languages and affiliate with four religions. The
program offers courses on Israeli society, human rights and children’s’ rights, gender equality,
critical pedagogy, and more. In addition the students specialize in one educational discipline –
math, science, literature and language and Jewish and Arab culture. They are taught how to
integrate social justice and peace education into the existing required curricula.
Dr. Ariela Bairey, Dr. Daniel Malach, and Moti Gigi
Dept. of Public Policy and Administration, Sapir Academic College, Sderot
Course title: Leadership and Social Change: Awareness and Initiative in Public Action
This course deals with two main issues, on both theoretical and practical-experiential levels:
individual and social change in a diverse and changing society, and social initiative and
leadership. The course exposes the students to mainstream and innovative approaches to
leadership as social action that occurs in a historical, social and political context. The course
examines leadership as a process that takes place from the bottom-up and laterally, and not
only from the top-down. This approach allows every individual in the room to actively examine
his or her ethnic and national identities and take responsibility for who they are as members
of their social and political environments. Students learn to use their strengths, privileges and
shortcomings as they better understand their role in either perpetuating or interrupting social
processes, and learn to take action as conscious and responsible agents of social change.
The method of instruction is engaged-critical pedagogy, in which students are challenged to
read diverse theoretical approaches, respond to them and interact actively with each other on
intellectual-cognitive and personal-emotional levels. As students participate in eh course and
are active in organizations for social justice and human rights, the course staff offers a forum
for reflection in action, within which consciousness, awareness and action are encouraged as
a flexible process of orchestrating group resources, as processes of individual and social
change are underway.
Prof. Miriam Shlesinger and Michal Schuster
Dept. of Translation and Interpreting Studies, Bar Ilan University
Course title: Community Interpreting
The course in community interpreting trains bilingual students to leverage their knowledge of
a second language for the benefit of those who have difficulty accessing various public
services because they do not speak Hebrew. It addresses such issues as the role of
language in creating – and reducing – power imbalances, the ethics of intercultural
mediation, advocacy and empowerment, and the rights o language minorities in a
multilingual society.
Students – speakers of Arabic, Russian, Amharic, Spanish, French and English (in addition to
Hebrew) – spend 4 hours each week volunteering as language mediators
(translator/interpreters). Their assignments vary widely and include hospitals (primarily
mediating between Arabic-speaking patients, many of them from Gaza, and the medical
staff); rehabilitational facilities (assisting therapists in diagnosing and treating children who
have undergone trauma); NGOs (such as Physicians for Human Rights); well baby clinics;
immigration center; and municipal services and social security offices. The students’ language
skills are curial in easing tension in these very charged settings and promote an
understanding of the importance of language access, while enhancing public awareness of
language in the context of human rights. Importantly, the course brings together students from
a variety of backgrounds, many of whom have never been exposed to the other before. As a
result the students undergo an intense process of tolerance building, understanding, and
transformation of previously hostile relationships.
Dr. Dalya Markovich and Asmhan Hazrallah
School of Education, Beit Berl College
Course title: Education and Social Change
The course aims to form a connection between the field of non-formal education and active
civic engagement. It discussed the non-formal education field as a potential sphere for civic
activism and social change, and the different ways in which non-formal education leverages
diverse social action and human rights. The experience in the field is designed to provide
students with tools and skills for civic activism. The theoretical and practical study is intended
to reflect and analyze some of the dilemmas, contradictions and new horizons characterizing
this distinct sphere.
The classroom consists of Jewish and Palestinian faculty and students, who through joint
action and study throughout the year learn to bridge over initial differences and work together
towards a common goal.
Dr. Yousef Jabareen and Dr. Ilan Saban
Faculty of Law, University of Haifa
Course title: Rights of the Palestinian Arab Minority in Israel
The course examines the legal status of the Arab citizens of Israel, and questions the
capacity of the law to serve s a tool for social change. Its framework creates a setting for
Arab-Jewish student partnership, modeled by the course lecturers. Students in the course
create Arab and Jewish work teams. Student intern and aid six human rights organizations
advancing the status of the Palestinian minority in Israel.
The faculty members, course coordinator and representatives of the organizations outline
students’ projects in advance, to ensure that they address key issues, while the course aims
to imitate at least one independent project annually. Students in the course have been
assisting in the preparation of an appeal regarding the conditions for admittance to institutions
of higher education. Today, universities and colleges require an arbitrary minimal age that
predominantly discriminates against Arab citizens. A team of students has been working on
the preparation of an appeal regarding profiling in public places, which results in
discrimination based on nationality. Other teams have been working to connect school sin the
unrecognized villages of the Negev to electricity and running water, and have begun to draft
an appeal regarding discrimination practices in acceptance to newly established community
settlements in the Negev.
Orly Kuzin-Malachi and Shiran Reichenberg
Faculty of Law, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Course title: Feminism, Accessibility and the Law
The course examines the conditions of marginalized women in various sectors of Israeli
society, their legal status as workers, mothers, single mothers and partners, and in legal,
feminist, and marginalization theories. Israeli society is diverse and consists of groups with
varying characteristics and traditions. Many women come from traditional backgrounds which
is reflected in their status in religious costs. The course will examine the connections between
knowledge, accessibility to law, marginal communities and social rights, and the direct and
indirect obstacles that women and girls face when seeking to exercise their rights. The course
will study various groups of marginalized women: in Islamic polygamy, the traditional Arab
family and society in East Jerusalem, the family structure of the Ethiopian community, and the
ultra-Orthodox Jewish community. Students will volunteer six hors a week at shelters for girls,
social welfare agencies in East Jerusalem, employment agencies for Arab women, battered
women shelters for Arab women, and more.
Jewish and Arab law students will initiate and pursue community work with marginalized
women and girls through conducting empowerment workshops and development of a
community project. Jewish and Arab women from marginalized communities will be hosted at
the Hebrew University Campus to expose them to the academic environment.
Prof. Rachel Kallus and Dr. Emily Silverman
Technion – Israel Institute of Technology
Course title: Planning with the Community: Concepts, Tools and Strategies for Action
This course examines community planning as a tool for social change. It rests on the
assumption that planning is not just a government tool but a framework for social action with
substantial effects on creation of community and forming their identity, status, and lifestyle.
The course focuses on planning with the community, in contrast to the mainstream attitude of
planning for the community. Planning is therefore taught as a means of mediating between
people and their surroundings, and especially for people from marginalized communities, as a
means to deal with social gaps and inequality. Some questions that the course raises are:
what is progressive social planning and how does it promote social change? How can
planners and architects effectively combat social gaps and inequality and promote
marginalized communities? How can planners work together with civil society organizations?
What tools do planners and architects need to lead processes of social change?
The course is open to students in urban planning, architecture, landscape architecture, and
civil and environmental engineering. Students will volunteer for sixty hours each semester
with civil society organizations in Haifa that promote the rights of the Arab sector in Haifa,
marginalized women, poor populations, and Palestinians in Jaffa.
Senan Abd-Elkader and Yael Padan
School of Architecture, Bezalel Academy of Art and Design
Course title: The unit for (in)formal architecture studies
One of the central features of Israel’s built landscape is informal construction, that
circumvents the legal, planning, and execution requirements of formal building. Such a
phenomenon is typical of marginalized populations globally, who for various reasons are
barred from using the accepted system. The unit for (in)formal architecture studies examines
these phenomena and its effect on the landscape of our lives. We are interested in how such
construction expresses the relationships between the powerful and the powerless. The
objective of the course is to train future architects who are aware of the existence and
complexity of the informal building phenomenon. Students will aim to create meaningful
architecture through dialogue with Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem in consideration of
the social and cultural complexity of the existing built landscape. The course will be
conducted in cooperation with Bimkom – Planners for Planning Rights, and the legal clinic at
Al-Kuds University.
Prof. Ariella Friedman and Abeer Halabi
Department of Behavioral Sciences, Safed College
Course title: Strengthening the Welfare of Women through Awareness and Empowerment
The course will focus on the empowerment of women – both female students and women in
crisis. The course will cover various forms of crises including poverty, violence, disease,
sexual harassment and abuse, low social status, and psychological internalization of
inequality. Almost all students in the classroom will be Palestinian women, and it will be jointly
taught by a Jewish and a Palestinian woman. The course consists of three parts: first, a
theoretical section in which students will read and discuss critical feminist literature and
multicultural literature on women’s issues; second, self examination of students through group
work and dialogue; and finally, the analysis of students’ own community service work, in
which they will volunteer for four hours a week in Palestinian women’s organizations that
combat sexual abuse, violence, poverty, and more.
Adv. Yuval Laster, Dr. Itay Fischhendler, and Prof. Yigal Erel
The Faculty of Law, the Department of Geography, and the Program for Environmental
Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Course title: Environmental Justice in a Trans-boundary Space
Environmental problems do not recognize manmade borders. Thus, despite the attempts to
transfer many of Jewish West-Jerusalem’s environmental problems (e.g. waste dumps etc.) to
Palestinian East Jerusalem, the problems have a grave impact on both sides. The objective of
the course is twofold: to strengthen the conditions for cooperation and long term
environmental planning across boundaries in Jerusalem and empowering marginalized
stakeholders, while at the same time educating students for social responsibility and action
through interdisciplinary use of scientific, planning, and legal tools. Through this joint work
students from various disciplines can learn about each other’s strengths and limitations and
lay the foundation for future cooperation. Students will be involved in projects that encourage
alternatives for waste dumping and promote recycling, file lawsuits as necessary, work with
planning groups at the Jerusalem municipality, meet with residents to document their needs,
etc.
Dr. Roni Strier
School of Social Work, University of Haifa
Course title: Methods for Community Organizing: The Haifa Partnership for Combating
Poverty
This course examines the community strategies to combat poverty and aims to create an
equal partnership between the academy in the community. The course’s students, Palestinian
and Jewish future social workers, work together with social workers, faculty, and diverse local
populations in the multi-ethnic city of Haifa to combat poverty. The course employs a
reflective methodology by looking critically at the relationship between the theory and practice
of community work. Students discuss the issues that arise from experiencing community
change at various levels. The objective of the course is to teach concepts, skills, and
knowledge of community organizing, which is necessary for future social workers.
Students are involved in various neighborhood and municipal projects, in four areas selected
together with local residents: the right to adequate housing, the right to education, water and
electricity payments, and promotion of women’s rights. Students provide support to residents,
recruit residents for the project, organize activities and vents and more. The project
culminates in a report written by students together with local residents on the state of poverty
in Haifa, and disseminated to decision makers and the general public.
Prof. Vered Slonim-Nevo and Yiftah Milo
School of Social Work, Ben Gurion University of the Negev
Course title: Refugee Issues in Israel and the World – Theory and Practical Training
The course is an interdisciplinary introduction to refugee issues in Israel and the world. It
examines legal, political, historical, sociological and psychological issues related to refugees
as expressed in Africa and in Israel and other Western countries. In addition, the course
examines Israeli policy towards refugees and asylum seekers who come to Israel seeking
protection. The course takes place on the university’s campus in the city of Eilat, home to
2500 asylum seekers, and is open to students in social work, behavioral sciences, sociology,
tourism, and politics.
In addition to their theoretical study students work one day a week with refugee children and
families in the city of Eilat. The course will be carried out in cooperation with civil society
organizations providing aid and support to refugees.
Dr. Edith Blit-Cohen
School of Social Work, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Course title: Marginalized Populations, Human Rights and Social Change
This course deals with civil and social rights and the relationship between the violation of
human rights and the creation of social exclusion, exploitation and oppression. During the
course, the students examine the phenomenon of social exclusion among different groups. In
addition, the course deals with different ways of combating social exclusion, such as
community organizing, consciousness raising and social change. A special part of the course
is dedicated to discussing the relevance and the role of social workers in creating responses
for socially excluded persons at the different levels of intervention: the micro , the mezzo, and
the macro level. Throughout the course, students become engaged with civil society
organizations concerned with socio-economic gaps, with an emphasis on Jews and
Palestinians in Israel.
Dr. Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian
Institute of Criminology, Faculty of Law, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Course title: Gender and Human Rights – Between Criminology, Victimology and Social
Action
Fourteen students enrolled in this innovative course, jointly offered by the School of Social
Work and the Criminology Department at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and taught by
Dr. Katalin Katz and Dr. Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian. The course integrates theoretical study
of human rights advocacy methods and critical concepts with four hours of volunteering at a
range of governmental and non-governmental organizations, including the Association for
Civil Rights in Israel, the Jerusalem municipality, the Israel Association for Child Protection,
Elem – Youth in Distress, and more. Some of the projects in which the students are involved
include: workshops for women on sexual rights, coordination of a coalition of organizations on
the protection of children on the internet, advocacy for Sudanese refugees, and more.
Dr. Haim Yacobi
Department of Politics and Government, Ben Gurion University
Course title: Human Rights, Community, and Planning Policy in Israel
Twelve students are enrolled in this course, offered by the politics and government
department at Ben Gurion University in Beer Sheva and taught by Dr. Haim Yacobi. The
course highlights the connection between human rights as a concept and a tool for social
change, and planning policy as a practice engaged in organization of space and allocation of
resources. In addition to their coursework, students volunteer for at least five hours a week at
a human rights or social justice organization, culminating in an analysis or policy document
that they write for the organization. The course places special emphasis on disadvantaged
communities in the south of Israel and issues of employment, environment, and health.
Dr. Tamar Hagar, Adv. Yael Efron, Tufaha Saba and Nava Shay
Department of Education, Tel-Hai Academic College
Course title: Education With a View Towards the Community
Fourteen students are enrolled in this program at Tel Hai College's education department in
Israel's far north, taught by Dr. Tamar Hagar. The program includes four courses: Education
and the community; Critical thought, gender and activism; Human rights – leadership and
change; and Jewish-Arab dialogue. In addition to these academic courses, students volunteer
for four hours a week at formal and informal educational initiatives, including a new
community center for the Southern Lebanese community in Kiryat Shmone, the Tel Hai center
for developing readiness for higher education among disadvantaged groups, a project for
helping women in Kiryat Shmone find employment facilitated by the Yedid organization, a
kindergarten for autistic children, and more.
Eldad Cidour, Lea Mauas, Diego Rotman and Eytan Shouker
Bezalel – Academy of Art and Design
Course title: Art and Activism
This popular course at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design is taught by Eytan Shouker,
Eldad Cidor, Lea Mauas and Diego Rotman. Between 20 and 32 students will be enrolled in
the course this year. Throughout the year the students study the work of artist activists,
discuss art in the social, political and economic contexts, and meet local organizations,
activists, and artists. In the summer, each student devotes approximately 180 hours to
developing a new or ongoing project in conjunction with a local community. Examples of such
projects include creating areas for meeting and leisure in the village of Issawiah through
recycling projects, building a platform for open conversation between city residents in the
center of Jerusalem, and planning and developing a park in an area that was initially
designated as a major road
Dr. Michael Klinghoffer
Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance
course title: The Artist as an Agent of Change