The Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement has made incredible strides in recent years, from successful campaigns to deny municipal contracts to Veolia, a transit company involved in the Jerusalem Light Rail project, to musician Lauryn Hill’s widely publicized cancellation of a performance in Israel. U.S.-based solidarity work has especially taken off on college campuses, with students leading divestment campaigns, educational and outreach programs, and walkouts and protests. Faculty have become increasingly involved, especially through successful and on-going campaigns to get professional academic associations to sign on to the academic and cultural boycott. BDS in the U.S. represents compelling and still evolving collaborations between academic institutions and grassroots movements. Here we offer as a case study a selection of recent writing about the boycott of Israeli academic institutions. This list also includes resolutions passed by a number of professional associations over the past two years.
- Joel Bleifuss: Chomsky, Lears and Elia Debate Whether an Academic Boycott of Israel Can Work
Here, three U.S.-based academics—Noam Chomsky, Jackson Lears, and Nada Elia—debate the merits and effectiveness of academic boycott.
- Robin Kelley: Locke Down on BDS?
Robin Kelley provides a historical account of boycott as a social movement strategy, drawing from black liberation struggles in the U.S. and South Africa.
- Steven Salaita: Why the American Studies Association Should Adopt Academic Boycott of Israel
Steven Salaita gained international attention when the University of Illinois fired him over his public statements against the bombing of Gaza in Summer 2014. Here, Salaita responds to common critiques of the BDS movement and academic boycott in particular.
- Nicholas Brady: The Void Speaks Back: Black Suffering as the Unthought of the American Studies Associations Boycott of Israel
Nicholas Brady critiques the discussion around the ASA resolution for its failure to address on-going attacks on African migrants in Israel.
- Noura Erakat: Structural Violence on Trial: BDS and the Movement to Resist Erasure
Noura Erakat documents experiences of on-going displacement and dispossession of Palestinians by Israeli settlers, calling critics of BDS to task for their silence on this structural violence.
- Ilana Feldman and Lisa Rofel: Why Anthropologists Should Boycott Israeli Academic Institutions
Ilana Feldman and Lisa Rofel make the case for why anthropologists in particular should support BDS and address concerns of academic freedom raised by opponents of boycott.
- Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel: Guidelines
Here, the Palastine-based campaign provides its guidelines for international organizations to join its call for boycott.
- U.S Association for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel
The website of USACBI provides resources, news, and action items for U.S.-based solidarity work with the BDS movement.
- Association for Asian American Studies: 2013 Resolution
AAAS provides the text of its resolution to join the U.S. Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, as well as official statements form the association and its then-president, Mary Yu Danico.
- American Studies Association: Council Resolution on Boycott of Israeli Academic Institutions
The text of the ASA’s 2013 resolution to join the U.S. Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel.
- Native American and Indigenous Studies Association: Declaration of Support for the Boycott of Israeli Academic Institutions
The statement of support from the NAISA council.
- Critical Ethnic Studies Association: BDS
Collection of CESA materials related to its involvement in BDS, including its resolution joining the U.S. Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel and a statement in support of the ASA.
