We have been working together for twenty years. We are an unlikely pair: an Israeli Druze woman and native Arabic speaker, and a Canadian-Israeli Jewish woman and native English speaker. We met when Randa was a Masters Student and Deborah her qualitative research lecturer and then Masters and Doctoral research supervisor. Beginning with Randa’s graduate work, we have conducted numerous studies into the Israeli Druze community, researching the Druze education system; the ways the increasingly secular Druze community maintains a relationship with their religion, whose secrets can be known only to the religiously observant; and the sometimes uneasy place of the loyal and nationalistic Druze community in Israel’s volatile democracy. One of the most important things we have learned is this. The insider possesses visceral understanding and intuitive knowledge of cultural codes, and is automatically accepted into Druze homes and schools. In our presentation we will provide examples of elements of the Druze educational system aimed at social justice; highlight the insights gained through our partnership; and expand on the likely contributions of insider-outsider research to social justice work.

Authors: Randa Khair Abbas, Deborah Court

Published in: Canada International Conference on Education, 2024

• Date of Conference: 23-25 July, 2024
• DOI: 10.20533/CICE.2024.0061
• Electronic ISBN: 978-1-913572-65-5
• Conference Location: Toronto Metropolitan University, Toronto, Canada