Our Response to the 2005 Annual Meeting
of The Israeli Anthropological
Association
In March
2004, the Ahoti-Mizrahi Democratic Rainbow-Mossawa
Coalition Against Apartheid in Israeli Anthropology filed a complaint with
Israel’s state comptroller, asking for his clarifications on the following
matters: the near-total absence of Mizrahi and Palestinian FTE holders from
anthropology departments, the methodic violation of our communal intellectual
and cultural rights, and the absence of any code of ethics from Israel’s
anthropological research and writing.
We wish to
remark that the international pressure on Israel’s Anthropological Association
(IAA) probably starts bearing some positive outcomes. We have conducted an
in-depth study of this year’s IAA program and participants’ composition, and
compared it with previous years’ programs and participants (see http://www.anthropology.org.il/ ,
Heb. font required). We are pleased to observe that this year, the meeting is
largely dedicated to topics dealing with Israel’s non-European disenfranchised
population, emphasizing issues of Mizrahi identity.
We have noted
the special effort the conference organizers made to locate Mizrahi and
Palestinian-Israeli scholars from a variety of disciplines and provide them
with a stage to present their research.
Nevertheless,
the we regret to inform you that this year’s program does not demonstrate any
shift in Israeli Anthropology FTE hiring practices so that these reflect the fact
that about two thirds of Israel’s citizenry is not US-European.
We have
analyzed the disciplinary and ethnic-gendered-national distribution of the 2005
conference participants. Going over the charts below one cannot but notice that
the majority of both untenured and tenured FTE holders participating in the
2005 meetings is of Ashkenazi (Jews originating in Europe).
·
Only ONE of the anthropologists participating in the meeting is a Mizrahi
tenured FTE, and only recently did he get tenure.
·
The number of tenured Mizrahi women anthropologists is ZERO.
·
The number of untenured anthropologists who are FTE holders, men and women
alike, is ZERO.
·
The number of Palestinian-Israeli FTE holders, men and women alike, whether tenured
or not, who participate in the 2005 conference, is ZERO.
Alas, but
this year’s meeting, therefore, does not address the original complaint the
Coalition filed with Israel’s State Comptroller in March 2004. Reading the
program, one could therefore deduce that the IAA has preferred to fill in its
2005 program with Oriental sounding names rather than remedy its discriminatory
recruitment and hiring policies for tenure-track faculty positions and its
continuous appropriation of our communal cultural rights.
Nurit Hajjaj,
CEO, the Mizrahi Democratic Rainbow +972-3-524-7702
Ja`afar Farah, CEO, Mossawa-The Advocacy
Center for the Palestinian Citizens of Israel +972-4-869-9587
Disciplinary and Ethnic-Gendered-National Distribution of IAA 2005 Program
Participants
Estimated margin of error – 7%
Data was
analyzed according to official IAA program and available public records on
Israeli university faculty and graduate students
Tenured University FTE-ed Participants in IAA 2005
Program
|
|
Ashkenazi |
Mizrahi |
Palestinian |
Total |
|||
|
|
M |
F |
M |
F |
M |
F |
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
|
Anthropology |
8 |
4 |
*1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
13 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sociology |
3 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
|
Education |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
|
English
Lit. |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
Literature |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
Geography |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
Politics
and Gov. |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
History |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
Phil. Of
Science |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|||||
|
Total |
15 |
8 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
25 |
* The tenured
Mizrahi Anthro FTE holder is the recently appointed
head of the IAA.
Tenured College FTE-ed Participants in IAA 2005
Program
Israeli
colleges differ from universities because college FTE holders are not entitled
to research and travel monies. The moneis university
FTE staff receive include large sums for traveling abroad and for
Hebrew-English translation and editing. Israeli merits and promotions are
mainly decided on English language publication record.
Anthropology
2 Ashkenazi women
Communication 1 woman (Jewish, yet ethnicity
unclear)
Exception
Senior:
1 Mizrahi
woman anthropologist, with non-tenured senior position, at a research institute,
and therefore, with limited access to students.
Untenured
FTE-ed Participants in IAA 2005 (both college and university – see above)
|
|
Ashkenazi |
Mizrahi |
Palestinian |
Total |
|||
|
|
M |
F |
M |
F |
M |
F |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anthropology |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Politics
and Gov. |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
|
Public
Admin. |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
|
Architecture |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
Education |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total |
|||||||