Although overshadowed by the scale of atrocities in Gaza since October 2023, employment and workers’ rights significantly affect individual lives, non-citizen workers, and the region’s political economy The scale of atrocities in Gaza since October 2023 has overshadowed less catastrophic issues such as employment and workers’ rights. Yet these concerns, while less urgent, significantly affect individual lives, non-citizen workers, and the region’s political economy. Key developments include the replacement of Palestinian workers with migrant workers and the adoption of problematic recruitment mechanisms discarded in the past. These developments reflect a tension between three logics underlying the political economy of non-citizen labour in Israel/Palestine: a capitalist, an ethno-nationalist, and a colonial logic. They show how events since October 2023 have shaped the relationship between the three logics. Conflicts around the use of national security rhetoric following the 7 October attack to promote a far-right political ideology and around domestic and international checks and balances that used to offer (limited) protection of workers’ rights demonstrate these tensions.
Dr Maayan Niezna is a Lecturer at the University of Liverpool School of Law and Social Justice. Before joining the School, she was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Modern Slavery and Human Rights at the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights, University of Oxford. Her research focuses on trafficking for labour exploitation, the regulation of labour migration, and the rights of non-citizens. She previously worked at the Hotline for Refugees and Migrants-Israel, the Office of the National Anti-trafficking Coordinator, Israeli Ministry of Justice, UNHCR, and worked on issues concerning the rights of Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories as a lawyer at Gisha-Legal Center for Freedom of Movement.
Dr Niezna's co-author Dr Yahel Kurlander is a sociologist of labour markets specialising in migration and work. Her research explores the intersections of labour migration, agriculture, law, and health, with a focus on Thai and other migrant workers in Israel. She has published extensively in leading academic journals and collaborates on international research with partners from academia and civil society. Her current projects address the impact of war on migrant workers, agricultural policy, and access to healthcare for marginalised groups. She is a Senior Lecturer at Tel-Hai Academic College.
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Although overshadowed by the scale of atrocities in Gaza since October 2023, employment and workers’ rights significantly affect individual lives, non-citizen workers, and the region’s political economy The scale of atrocities in Gaza since October 2023 has overshadowed less catastrophic issues such as employment and workers’ rights. Yet these concerns, while less urgent, significantly affect individual lives, non-citizen workers, and the region’s political economy. Key developments include the replacement of Palestinian workers with migrant workers and the adoption of problematic recruitment mechanisms discarded in the past. These developments reflect a tension between three logics underlying the political economy of non-citizen labour in Israel/Palestine: a capitalist, an ethno-nationalist, and a colonial logic. They show how events since October 2023 have shaped the relationship between the three logics. Conflicts around the use of national security rhetoric following the 7 October attack to promote a far-right political ideology and around domestic and international checks and balances that used to offer (limited) protection of workers’ rights demonstrate these tensions.
Dr Maayan Niezna is a Lecturer at the University of Liverpool School of Law and Social Justice. Before joining the School, she was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Modern Slavery and Human Rights at the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights, University of Oxford. Her research focuses on trafficking for labour exploitation, the regulation of labour migration, and the rights of non-citizens. She previously worked at the Hotline for Refugees and Migrants-Israel, the Office of the National Anti-trafficking Coordinator, Israeli Ministry of Justice, UNHCR, and worked on issues concerning the rights of Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories as a lawyer at Gisha-Legal Center for Freedom of Movement.
Dr Niezna's co-author Dr Yahel Kurlander is a sociologist of labour markets specialising in migration and work. Her research explores the intersections of labour migration, agriculture, law, and health, with a focus on Thai and other migrant workers in Israel. She has published extensively in leading academic journals and collaborates on international research with partners from academia and civil society. Her current projects address the impact of war on migrant workers, agricultural policy, and access to healthcare for marginalised groups. She is a Senior Lecturer at Tel-Hai Academic College.
Abraham and Moses as Entrepreneurs: Educating for the Future with Narratives of the Past
Israel Studies Seminar
56 minutes
11 months ago
Abraham and Moses as Entrepreneurs: Educating for the Future with Narratives of the Past
How does the global entrepreneurial discourse, which advocates for a neoliberal, individualistic, and future-oriented identity, intersects with a state education system that seeks to establish a collectivist and ethno-national identity? Over the past two decades, the entrepreneurial ethos has gained prominence in state education systems across many countries, aiming to construct an entrepreneurial identity among children and youth. The entrepreneurial ideal is frequently regarded in sociological literature as part of the neoliberal culture serving the global free market economy. The global entrepreneurial discourse promotes neoliberal values which include future orientation, personal autonomy and individualisation.
Concurrently, state education systems strive to shape a national identity. In Israel, this objective is uniquely translated to promote an ethno-national, Zionist, Jewish- Israeli identity. The paradox between entrepreneurialism and ethno-nationalism raises an important question: How does the global entrepreneurial discourse, which advocates for a neoliberal, individualistic, and future- oriented identity, intersects with a state education system that seeks to establish a collectivist and ethno-national identity?
The study followed the translation of the global entrepreneurial discourse into the local Israeli state education system (mamlakhti) among policymakers, educators, and within educational spaces through a multi- focal qualitative research. Findings reveal a hybrid entrepreneurial-nationalistic ideal emerging in Israeli education, merging neoliberalism and ethno-nationalism, and combining future orientation with Jewish-Israeli narratives and symbols. As neoliberal and ethno-national narratives are weaved together, the local discourse reclaims and reproduces social in/exclusion, marking social boundaries and perpetuating inequality. The research contributes to the understanding of how discourse (re)shapes the social, by showing how a global educational discourse is redesigned and translated within a socio-political context.
Israel Studies Seminar
Although overshadowed by the scale of atrocities in Gaza since October 2023, employment and workers’ rights significantly affect individual lives, non-citizen workers, and the region’s political economy The scale of atrocities in Gaza since October 2023 has overshadowed less catastrophic issues such as employment and workers’ rights. Yet these concerns, while less urgent, significantly affect individual lives, non-citizen workers, and the region’s political economy. Key developments include the replacement of Palestinian workers with migrant workers and the adoption of problematic recruitment mechanisms discarded in the past. These developments reflect a tension between three logics underlying the political economy of non-citizen labour in Israel/Palestine: a capitalist, an ethno-nationalist, and a colonial logic. They show how events since October 2023 have shaped the relationship between the three logics. Conflicts around the use of national security rhetoric following the 7 October attack to promote a far-right political ideology and around domestic and international checks and balances that used to offer (limited) protection of workers’ rights demonstrate these tensions.
Dr Maayan Niezna is a Lecturer at the University of Liverpool School of Law and Social Justice. Before joining the School, she was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Modern Slavery and Human Rights at the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights, University of Oxford. Her research focuses on trafficking for labour exploitation, the regulation of labour migration, and the rights of non-citizens. She previously worked at the Hotline for Refugees and Migrants-Israel, the Office of the National Anti-trafficking Coordinator, Israeli Ministry of Justice, UNHCR, and worked on issues concerning the rights of Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories as a lawyer at Gisha-Legal Center for Freedom of Movement.
Dr Niezna's co-author Dr Yahel Kurlander is a sociologist of labour markets specialising in migration and work. Her research explores the intersections of labour migration, agriculture, law, and health, with a focus on Thai and other migrant workers in Israel. She has published extensively in leading academic journals and collaborates on international research with partners from academia and civil society. Her current projects address the impact of war on migrant workers, agricultural policy, and access to healthcare for marginalised groups. She is a Senior Lecturer at Tel-Hai Academic College.
