Season 1 Episode 3: Teaching Palestine

It’s been one year since the beginning of the genocide in Palestine. With over 42,000 Palestinians murdered, 17,000 of them children. Now more than ever it’s important that we are teaching Palestine. Joining us on this two-part special episode are Samia Shoman and Rifk Ebeid, interviewed by Jody Sokolower.

Samia Shoman and Jody Sokolower are co-coordinators of the Teach Palestine Project at the Middle East Children's Alliance. Samia is a California native with Palestinian roots who has dedicated her career in public education to promoting racial and social justice in the classroom and in broader educational organizations. A long-time high school social science teacher with a special love for working with English learners, she currently serves as an administrator in her school district. 

Jody is a long-time political activist, educator, writer, and editor. She is the author of "Determined to Stay: Palestinian Youth Fight for Their Village" and is also a cofounder of our Coalition for Liberated Ethnic Studies. As managing editor of "Rethinking Schools" magazine, she also coedited the award-winning "Rethinking Sexism, Gender, and Sexuality" in 2016 and edited "Teaching the Wars in the Middle East" in 2013. Jody has taught middle and high school students, adult English language learners, and teachers. 

Rifk Ebeid is a Palestinian American Muslim writer, attorney, and pediatric speech language pathologist. She is the author of three children’s picture books about Palestine: "Birthday Kunafa," "You Are the Color," and "Baba, What Does My Name Mean? A Journey To Palestine," which was nominated for the 2020 Palestine Book Awards. She is also the producer of "I Am From Palestine," an animated short film about the Palestinian-American experience in school.

We encourage new listeners to our podcast to start with Season 1 Episode 0 to help orient you and provide context to our liberated Ethnic Studies movement.

For resources from this episode head to our website: ethnicstudies-coalition.org/podcast