March 8th, 2017 Provost

Randi Provost

March 8^th, 2017

            In the readings for this week, the focus has been empire and the U.S. role of imperialism in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Both Feldman and Khalili give us frameworks for understanding how the U.S. produces and re-produces the work of colonialism and imperialism in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as well as it’s function in war, more generally. Mohanty then gives a fuller context to the ways in which gender, class, race and sexuality has been enlisted in these projects.

            These frameworks outline the ways in which the U.S. liberal narrative, specifically, justifies the involvement in war, and imperial projects for the sake of civility. This outlines the savior narrative in both how to “save”, for example, Muslim women or similar to last week’s example saving queer people are living in U.S. deemed homophobic countries. This weeks readings interrupt the savior narrative that is being perpetuated by the liberal justifications of war, policing and imprisonment.      

            In relation to my own work with young people it is difficult for me to conceptualize this applicability of the methodology employed in these readings. Perhaps this is a useful methodology when thinking about systems as a whole, for example, similar to my question last week about how to stay away of co-opting a movement and working to not re-create structures that my work or potential research would work to interrupt, such as colonial and imperial projects.

            One example, I can think of where this methodology may serve well, is the in a the case of youth-based programming that is developed by the U.S. and implemented in non-Western countries and the implications of that work. Further, in looking at that type of programming, what does it mean for the folks who are utilizing that programming, for better or for worse, to survive? Similar, to the non-Western critiques of the work we read last week. Out of that my questions would be:

1)    How can we utilize these methodologies in youth-centered, programs or evaluations?

2)    If this methodology is employed in research, what does the acknowledgement mean for the young people who may benefit from the imperial project? For example, the programs mentioned above?