The challenges of diversity in Israeli higher educational institutes

Abstract:
The lecture will address the challenges of diversity in Israeli universities from the perspectives of minority groups. It will present the gaps and obstacles that minority students face, such as: economic, social, and political within the academic Israeli context.
Through two case studies of Palestinian-Arab citizens of Israel and Ethiopian Jews, I will discuss the implications of diversity policies practiced in this sphere.

About the speaker:
Prof. Sarab Abu-Rabia-Queder is an Associate Professor at the Department of Education, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Recently has been appointed as VP for diversity & inclusion.
Her contribution to scholarship includes three subjects which form the core of her research: Feminist discourse, minorities in higher education, and minorities in the labor market.
Prof. Abu-Rabia-Queder is a leading researcher in gender and women’s studies in the Bedouin society and one of the first to explore analytical feminist perspectives in the Bedouin society, formulating a unique discourse rich with the otherwise silenced voices of Bedouin women. Her work has succeeded in making significant contributions to the critical analysis of how feminist bodies of knowledge and gender analyses in Israel are produced and how Bedouin perspectives are marginalized within the politics of participation in the production and prioritization of feminist discourses. In her contributions to this body of literature she promotes epistemic justice for the women whom she studies. Prof. Abu-Rabia-Queder merges a deep knowledge of this body of scholarship with her unique perspective to develop new forms of engagement with feminist intersectional scholarship.
Alongside her academic pursuits Prof. Abu-Rabia-Queder is also a feminist activist, fighting for Bedouin women’s rights in the Negev. She serves as a board member in several NGO’s and academic committees. Her main activity focuses on issues central to Bedouin women’s agenda such as access to education, combating polygamy, and improving employment opportunities.
She is the winner of several competitive grants and prizes. In 2019 she won the “Aut katan” prize from “Rouah Nashit” association for the combination between her academic and feminist agenda.