@misc{9235521,
  abstract     = {{The study examines the influence exerted by the UNRWA funding system -
largely based on voluntary contributions from donor states - on the negotiation of
Palestinian identity within schools located in refugee camps in Jordan. By
conducting interviews with eight former students of UNRWA schools in the
camps, and integrating the resulting data with field observations and analyses of
United Nations documents, the study seeks to identify the spaces within the
school environment in which processes of Palestinian identity formation are
articulated and negotiated.
Drawing on Antonio Gramsci’s theory of cultural hegemony, Paulo Freire’s
critical pedagogy, and Stuart Hall’s conception of diasporic identity, the study
argues that the voluntary donor-based funding system influences Palestinian
identity formation primarily within the sphere of formal curricular education. In
this context, donor inspection visits, control over school textbooks, and
institutionally legitimized representations appear to shape the discursive framing
surrounding Palestine. By contrast, informal educational practices and
extracurricular student networks emerge as spaces in which Palestinian identity is
constructed, debated, and negotiated detached from hegemonic dynamics.
The study reflects on the relationship between economic power and education in
humanitarian aid contexts and its implications for identity formation within
diasporic communities, seeking to offer an original contribution to Middle Eastern
Studies in the epistemological and analytical approaches to the Palestinian refugee
identity.}},
  author       = {{Bennicelli, Ludovico}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Funding Palestinian Identity: How UNRWA’s Donor-Based Funding System Affects Palestinian Identity Processes in Jordanian Refugee Camp Schools}},
  year         = {{2026}},
}