The committee comment
The committee found that the thesis offers an original and significant contribution to peace and conflict studies through its innovative concept of agonistic epistemic disruptions, showing how embodied protest and political performance challenge dominant narratives, forms of epistemic violence, and exclusionary collective identities in Palestine and Israel.
Grounded in multi-sited ethnographic research, you provide a compelling account of how contestation over memory, meaning, and recognition can create possibilities for political transformation and coexistence in deeply divided societies.
The dissertation is theoretically sophisticated, empirically persuasive, and advances understanding of peacebuilding by moving beyond consensus-oriented approaches to highlight the productive role of conflict and disagreement in fostering more inclusive forms of political engagement.