Art education under development in Palestine: de‐ and repoliticization via universal values, institutional critique, and reflexive practice

Abstract

AbstractThis article studies ways in which art education is mobilized to modify subjective and aesthetic performances of Palestinian students, considering debates surrounding depoliticization and development funding in Palestine. It explores the subject matter and critical stance deemed appropriate for self‐directed art projects within a Ramallah art school. Moving beyond arguments put forward within existing literature on the depoliticizing impact of aid funding by drawing on ethnographic detail, the article explores how students experience and respond to this education. Despite being shaped by structures of control that arguably encourage depoliticization, many students understood this education as also opening a space for unpicking and critical examination of such structures. The article locates instances in which this repoliticization was invoked by students, in balance with their awareness of the complexity and contingency of this process.