Christine Leuenberger to develop interactive course in Israel

Christine Leuenberger, senior lecturer in the Department of Science and Technology Studies, will return to Tel Aviv University's geography department this December for 42 days as a Fulbright specialist.

She will develop a new course, to be taught at Cornell, Tel Aviv University and eventually at a Palestinian institution, that draws on new research in sociology, science and technology studies, and social geography to examine the social and environmental impact of engineering projects such as the West Bank barrier, and fencing and walls on the U.S.-Mexico border.

The course would be conducted simultaneously at each school to allow live videoconferencing among students.

"We see this as not only an opportunity for knowledge exchange and face-to-face encounters between students from different national contexts, but also as an opportunity for peace building by bringing Israeli, Palestinian and American students together in the same virtual space for the purpose of academic exchange," said Leuenberger, who spent a semester in 2008 as a Fulbright scholar in Israel and Palestine.

Leuenberger also will give workshops and teach graduate and undergraduate students, including training students in such qualitative methods as interviewing and ethnographic observation. Leuenberger and Tel Aviv University's Professor Izhak Schnell are co-writing a book titled "Mapping Conflict Regions: How Maps Helped Build the Israeli Nation-State."

The Fulbright Program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and supported by the people of the United States and partner countries around the world.

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Syl Kacapyr