Asrar Kayal

My Ph.D. research project title is: "Decolonizing Research on Intra-communal violence amongst the Palestinian Community in Israel: Exploring Community Psychological Legacy of Experiences of Silenced Deprivation and Introjected Representations".
This work aims to decolonise research on intra-communal violence among the Palestinian indigenous community in Israel (PCI) through exploring the community's psychological legacy. It draws on decolonizing approaches in social sciences and community psychology and on critical utilization of psychoanalysis, to examine narrative and photo-ethnography of PCI.
This research places the Palestinian indigenous community at the center of analysis, examining how the community’s psychological legacy of experiences of silenced deprivation and introjected representations has contributed to the rise in intra-communal violence in the past 15 years.
October 2023 to end of September 2027

My MA thesis researched the colonial practices against Palestinian Political prisoners, and the Palestinian experience of captivity in light of the decline in Palestinian communal support.
It examined the colonial practices perpetrated by the prison service management and intelligence agency towards the Palestinian prisoners.
The research aimed to analyze the psychological experiences of Palestinian prisoners in dealing with these practices within the current social context, and the economic, political, and social transformations following the signing of the Oslo Accords, which brought about a noticeable decline in Palestinian communal support.
The research outcomes highlight the substantial and significant role played by each: symbolism related to captivity experience, as well as the sense of community as responsibility, and not only as a passive reception of communal support; in the prisoners’ engagement with their experiences of captivity.
January 2015 to June 2018