Secrets from the Family Album: Official and Silenced Knowledge on Migration

Abstract

This article analyses photo elicitation workshop encounters of Arab and Jewish students in an academic college in Israel. Focused on family albums, the workshop, facilitated by the author, examined family histories of migration shared by both peoples in ways insufficiently addressed in scholarly, educational and daily discourse. The encounters were informed by a critical pedagogy approach, with emphasis on recognizing cultural differences and silenced personal-political histories, and producing new knowledge through critical discussions. One central theme that emerged in the workshop was official and silenced knowledge on migration and uprooting. Distinct from the official knowledge provided by the state curriculum, the alternative knowledge elicited from the albums challenges the divisiveness of national narratives. It has the potential of developing critical and empowered awareness and identity and of promoting social change.