On Friday, November 20, the American Anthropological Association (AAA) witnessed an historic victory at their annual business meeting, in which a landslide vote of 1040-136 supported a resolution that calls for the boycott of Israeli academic institutions. The opposing resolution was also defeated 1173-196. The potential boycott will cease ties between the AAA and Israeli academic institutions (not individuals), until the Israeli government ends its illegal occupation of Palestine and its systematic, academic and human rights abuses of Palestinians in Israel, the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.
The ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a critical issue for anthropologists in particular to be especially sensitive to. This is not just because they are cognizant and observant of sociocultural complexity, but because they are committed to upholding human rights and academic freedom, encouraging mutual understanding and confronting inequality and discrimination in today’s society: racism, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, sexism, classism, etc. Anthropology shares a dark history with colonialism, once one of its facilitators, now a prime advocate for the rights of indigenous, minority and disadvantaged populations.
With human subjects as our favorite company, ethics and morality are inseparable from ethnographic inquiry. As such, anthropologists have for years been engaged in dialogue over the deep social problems emanating from the conflict and Israeli occupation of Palestine. Summer 2014’s Operation Protective Edge shocked anthropologists (and much of the world) into paying closer attention to the increasing violence and casualties, as well as deterioration of Palestinian health, welfare and academic freedom. In August 2014, the AAA Task Force began a year of in-depth research and ethnographic fieldwork of these issues, including several ways to sanction Israeli academic institutions.
As was seen in 2014’s AAA panel sessions and business meeting in Washington D.C., and again in Denver, Colorado 2015, the possibility of supporting an academic boycott has become increasingly relevant. Current signatories have stretched over 1,000 and include such well renowned anthropologists as Ann Stoler, Talal Asad, Akhil Gupta and James Ferguson.
As a student of social anthropology and member of Students for Justice in Palestine, it is truly inspirational for me to see a professional organization taking small steps beyond crucial (yet static) dialogue, toward an increased flow of constructive criticism and action in response to human rights and academic abuses. Now that the AAA has passed a pro-boycott resolution to be considered for a final vote among the entire membership next spring (which will not go into effect until a final round of approval), my sincerest hope is for my department, conflicting viewpoints and all, to follow in the footsteps of the AAA and endorse this resolution in time for the spring vote.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not an easy one in anthropology to discuss, let alone take a stand on, and as academics supporting academic freedom, it may sometimes be easier to even ignore. However, it is not irrelevant to any of us, and one reason why the AAA of late has been listening and reacting to the call for an academic boycott. While I do not speak for my department, I personally support the boycott and think the department should too. Furthermore, the landslide nature of the AAA resolution definitively calls for the attention of anthropology departments everywhere. I have seen both political apathy and passion in my department, yet I hope to see more of the latter among us as we engage the conflict and the resolution more fervently and critically, and what as a department we can do about it. I hope our discussions and debates will further inspire other Binghamton University departments, students and faculty to do the same.
Frances Harrison is a fourth-year graduate student