“Green Knowledge Community, Beats for Gaza”: Transnational linkages and institutional obstacles to the diffusion of arts and permaculture-based resilience knowledge among youth in Gaza

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.13169/bethunivj.37.2020.0068
• Published date: 01 January 2020
• Date: 01 January 2020
• Pages: 68-84
• Author: Ana Margarida Esteves,Majed Abusalama

68 Bethlehem University Journal 37 (2020)

“Green Knowledge Community, Beats for Gaza”:

Transnational linkages and institutional obstacles to

the diffusion of arts and permaculture-based resilience

knowledge among youth in Gaza

Ana Margarida Esteves and Majed Abusalama

Abstract

This article offers insights on how the institutional and material limitations,

posed by the Israeli/Egyptian blockage on Gaza, promote learning processes that

impact the strategic choices of an activist collective. It uses ethnographic data to

explore micro processes of reasoning and decision-making in “Green Knowledge

Community, Beats for Gaza”, a network of Palestinian and international group of

young activists aiming to promote grassroots-level resilience to Israeli occupation

in this Palestinian territory. It analyses the shift from an initial focus on building

an arts therapy school, which turned out to be unfeasible due to limitations both of

the ground and among potential international donors, to a focus on permaculture,

regarded as a strategy that could circumvent those limitations by mobilizing

endogenous resources. The collective became progressively aware of the need

to direct transnational knowledge diffusion to the support of the struggle for food

sovereignty and grassroots economic self-determination through the localizing

of agricultural production. This was due to the circumstances of the Israeli

military occupation, Israeli/Egyptian blockage and the inclusion of a signicant

amount of arable land in the Gaza/Israel buffer, as well as to strategic choices of

international donors, as well as the Hamas government.

Keywords: Community-level resilience, Knowledge diffusion, Transnational

networks, Permaculture, Gaza

Disclaimer: The opinions and views expressed in this article do not represent the

opinions of the Journal’s editorial board and staff of the Dean of Research at Bethlehem

University. The accuracy of the material and any errors in this publication are the sole

responsibility of the author

68 Bethlehem University Journal 37 (2020)

“Green Knowledge Community, Beats for Gaza”:

Transnational linkages and institutional obstacles to

the diffusion of arts and permaculture-based resilience

knowledge among youth in Gaza

Ana Margarida Esteves and Majed Abusalama

Abstract

This article offers insights on how the institutional and material limitations,

posed by the Israeli/Egyptian blockage on Gaza, promote learning processes that

impact the strategic choices of an activist collective. It uses ethnographic data to

explore micro processes of reasoning and decision-making in “Green Knowledge

Community, Beats for Gaza”, a network of Palestinian and international group of

young activists aiming to promote grassroots-level resilience to Israeli occupation

in this Palestinian territory. It analyses the shift from an initial focus on building

an arts therapy school, which turned out to be unfeasible due to limitations both of

the ground and among potential international donors, to a focus on permaculture,

regarded as a strategy that could circumvent those limitations by mobilizing

endogenous resources. The collective became progressively aware of the need

to direct transnational knowledge diffusion to the support of the struggle for food

sovereignty and grassroots economic self-determination through the localizing

of agricultural production. This was due to the circumstances of the Israeli

military occupation, Israeli/Egyptian blockage and the inclusion of a signicant

amount of arable land in the Gaza/Israel buffer, as well as to strategic choices of

international donors, as well as the Hamas government.

Keywords: Community-level resilience, Knowledge diffusion, Transnational

networks, Permaculture, Gaza

Disclaimer: The opinions and views expressed in this article do not represent the

opinions of the Journal’s editorial board and staff of the Dean of Research at Bethlehem

University. The accuracy of the material and any errors in this publication are the sole

responsibility of the author

69

Bethlehem University Journal 37 (2020)

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