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.