Undergraduate Module Descriptor

POC2088: Understanding Israel and Palestine: One Land, Two People

This module descriptor refers to the 2017/8 academic year.

Please note that this module is only delivered on the Penryn Campus.

Module Aims

This module will:

  1. Introduce you to the causes, dynamics, key issues, and main developments in the politics of the Israel-Palestine conflict, and situate the analysis within the academic debates on nationalism, identity, ethnicity, violence, conflict, security, regional relations, and international relations.
  2. Introduce you to various, often contradictory, interpretations of the conflict going beyond the two 'official' narratives.
  3. Provide you with the opportunity to develop a range of study skills, including the ability to work individually and in a group, evaluate and constructively critique peers’ work, and to construct a coherent and well-reasoned critical analysis of the issues discussed in both oral and written forms.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

This module's assessment will evaluate your achievement of the ILOs listed here – you will see reference to these ILO numbers in the details of the assessment for this module.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to:
Module-Specific Skills1. Demonstrate a knowledge of the main developments, issues and actors in the Israel-Palestine conflict, taking account of varying narratives of events and dynamics of the conflict;
2. Assess and analyse Israeli and Palestinian internal political and social structures, and apply this analysis in the context of the Israel-Palestine conflict;
3. Understand, analyse and evaluate the political ideas and ideologies that have guided the dynamics of the conflict;
Discipline-Specific Skills4. Find, use, and analyse secondary data relevant to specific issue areas;
5. Apply theoretical debates of nationalism, identity, violence or security to empirical data and vice versa;
6. Understand assessment criteria, engage in constructive peer-evaluation and produce feedback and suggestions for improvement
Personal and Key Skills7. Develop oral presentation and communication, group interaction, and analytical writing skills;
8. Locate, research and critically evaluate relevant information from academic sources to form a critical analysis
9. Articulate and defend positions on the seminar topics
10. Understand assessment criteria, engage in critical, yet constructive, peer-evaluation and produce feedback and suggestions for improvement
11. Study independently and in groups