Asrar Kayal

My Ph.D. research project title is: "Decolonising Research on Intra-communal Violence amongst the '48-Colonised Palestinian Community: Exploring the Community's Experiences and Psychological Legacy".
This work aims to decolonise research on intra-communal violence among the 1948-colonised Palestinian indigenous community through exploring the community's psychological legacy. It draws on decolonising approach in community psychology and on liberation and critical utilisation of psychoanalysis, to explore the community's lived experiences and psychological legacy through their narratives and photo-ethnography.
This research places the Palestinian indigenous community at the centre of analysis, examining how the community’s psychological legacy has contributed to the dramatic rise in intra-communal violence since the year 2007.
October 2023 to end of September 2027

My MA thesis researched the experiences of captivity of Palestinian political female and male prisoners, in light of the decline in Palestinian communal support after Oslo accords.
The study examined the colonial practices perpetrated by the Israeli prison service management and intelligence agency towards the Palestinian prisoners. It aimed to analyse 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: narrative and symbolism related to captivity experience, as well as the psychological sense of community viewed 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