At 7 pm on Wednesday, September 25, Middle East Institute Senior Fellow Khaled Elgindy will join UMW Professors Ranjit Singh and Nabil Al-Tikriti to discuss the current situation in Gaza, and the factors which have led to that situation. The event will take place in the Hurley Convergence Center’s Digital Auditorium.
Singh Publishes Article “Arguing BDS in the Undergraduate Seminar”
Department of Political Science and International Affairs Associate Professor Ranjit Singh
Political Science and International Affairs Associate Professor Ranjit Singh published a peer-reviewed article “Arguing BDS in the Undergraduate Seminar” in the Spring 2022 Review of Middle East Studies, a journal published by the Middle East Studies Association (MESA).
Singh’s article discusses benefits and approaches to teaching students about one of the most controversial aspects of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict: the international Boycott, Divestment and Sanction (BDS) movement seeking to pressure Israel to comply with international law and end the occupation of Palestinians. The article is based in Singh’s experience teaching a 2019 UMW seminar that largely focused on debates surrounding BDS. Despite the heated controversy, Singh argues social scientists should not shy from teaching such movements because they affect political behavior, shed light on academia and the need for interdisciplinary approaches, engage issues of professorial authority, and open a portal to the ethics of dissent in the era of Black Lives Matter.
An earlier version of this paper was sponsored by MESA’s Committee for Undergraduate Middle East Studies, and presented virtually at the 2020 annual MESA conference.
Singh Presents Research at Environment Virginia Symposium
Associate Professor Ranjit Singh, Department of Political Science and International Affairs
Associate Professor Ranjit Singh (Political Science and International Affairs) presented his research on Stafford County private landowners’ attitudes towards land conservation March 26th at the annual Environment Virginia Symposium at Virginia Military Institute in Lexington. Thus far, Singh has interviewed 52 landowners in the county, which is a conservation “hotspot.” His research will continue through support from a Jepson Fellowship in 2019-2020. Singh has been invited to discuss his research at a stakeholders’ meeting with Stafford officials interested in strategic options for land conservation on April 8. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Northern Virginia Conservation Trust.