Online Course: Conflict, Knowledge, and Memory

This course proposes an inquiry into the academic and cultural experiences of writing and rewriting history in Palestine and in Syria. It combines different approaches and intellectual schools from the epistemic question of “decolonizing” knowledge to the impact of today’s information revolution as a factor in cultural production and political representations.

The course emphasizes transdisciplinary discussions on the nature of conflicts and their features. Contribution to national-self building is explored through the lens of statelessness in the Palestinian case and the one-party state and ensuant civil war in the Syrian case. It brings in an original combination of dissent/subaltern literature and the questioning of the philosophical concept of civil society and the legal and political definition of the state. It tracks evolutions and mechanisms of knowledge production in contexts of “exile”, “estrangement” and “conflictual narratives”, as it explores alternative forms of expression and representations within the visual arts, popular culture, and the proliferation of personal and oral history accounts.

Sessions will be presented/led by both instructors, both facilitating discussions with a focus on student participation and the co-produced, interactive progress of the course. They include watching and discussing visual materials: visual arts, films and literature, documentary material as well as an experimental and interaction experiences with OpenAI -ChatGPT.

Certification

This course is hosted by Freie Universität Berlin and certified with 6 ECTS upon successful completion.

Please check the course requirements from the course syllabus and inform your instructor(s) about your request to receive a certificate for this course.

You will find the full syllabus on Moodle course page.

At the end of the semester, the instructors will inform the learning designer about your request and grade. The certificate will be prepared with the university secretariat and it may take up to 8 weeks.

Registration

Our courses are held on a digital learning platform, Moodle. Before you create your account on Moodle, we have some notes for your and others’ digital security.

• When you register, you can use a nickname. Nicknames with offensive, racist or sexist undertones will not be accepted.
• Communication outside of the platform is not private. It is a solidarity action with people who would like to stay anonymous for different reasons. Please use our secure platform to communicate with others and respect their choices of communication channels.
• We aim to create an inclusive learning environment with our participants and educate ourselves in a more inclusive language. Be eager and tolerant to learn from each other and challenge any discriminating language. You can have a look at it here.

For more information, please visit:Conflict, Knowledge and Memory – Off University