Can Academics Change the World?: An Israeli Anthropologist's Testimony on the Rise and Fall of a Protest Movement on Campus(39 EASA Series)

Moshe Shokeid narrates his experiences as a member of AD KAN (NO MORE), a protest movement of Israeli academics at Tel Aviv University, who fought against the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories, founded during the first Palestinian Intifada (1987-1993). However, since the assassination of Prime Minister Rabin and the later obliteration of the Oslo accord, public manifestations of dissent on Israeli campuses have been remarkably mute. This chronicle of AD KAN is explored in view of the ongoing theoretical discourse on the role of the intellectual in society and is compared with other account of academic involvement in different countries during periods of acute political conflict.

Table of Contents:
List of Illustrations Preface Acknowledgements Introduction: On Memory Chapter 1. A Personal Note Chapter 2. The First Palestinian Intifada Chapter 3.Intellectuals/Academics Engagement in the Public Forum Chapter 4. Israeli Academics’ Political Involvement Prior to the First Intifada Chapter 5. The Founding of AD KAN Chapter 6. Opening the Sealed Box of AD KAN Chapter 7. The Working of a Protest Organization Chapter 8. The Media Coverage Chapter 9. The Moving Scene from Afar and Near Chapter 10. The Senate Debacle Chapter 11. Raising the PLO Presence on Campus Chapter 12. Towards the Last Stage Chapter 13. The Aftermath: When Prophecy Fails Chapter 14. Listening to AD KAN Veterans Chapter 15. Past and Present Israeli Protestors Reconsidered Chapter 16. Israeli and other Critics’ Commentary on the Continuing Occupation Chapter 17. Israeli Society 2018: An Anthropological Perspective Epilogue References Index

About the Author :
Moshe Shokeid is Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at Tel Aviv University. His major publications include Children of Circumstances (1988, Cornell), A Gay Synagogue in New York (1995, Columbia), and Three Jewish Journeys through an Anthropologist's Lens (2009, Academic Studies Press).

Review :
“Shokeid often implies that academia’s moral voice is more unified, coherent, and enlightened than the forces outside the ivory tower, a perspective one might take issue with. But the greater value of this book lies in the deep questions it forces us to ask of ourselves.” • Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute “…a contribution to the understanding of contemporary Israeli society and an example of academic, not least anthropological, engagement with public affairs” • Ulf Hannerz, University of Stockholm “This book is interesting at least in three ways: it gives insight into the fraught political/ideological situation in Israel; it shows how academics can make a difference (and where they fail to do so); and it gives a portrait of a prominent Israeli anthropologist’s intellectual and political itinerary.” • Thomas Hylland Eriksen, University of Oslo