Articulate a question for discussion. begin by looking for a theoretical issue in the assigned reading. then carefully summarize the key ideas/s that have generated your question

Articulate a question for discussion. Begin by looking for a theoretical issue in the assigned reading. Then carefully summarize the key ideas/s that have generated your question

THEORETICAL ISSUE Nothing to lose but Your Life” – by Suad Amiry) of THEORETICAL ISSUE The theoretical question that this paper poses is: how can ethnographic studies be made more relevant in these times? Can social anthropology move itself from the academe and into the realm of reality? What insights can the knowledge gained from social anthropology be used to help resolve problems like the Arab-Israeli conflict? Social anthropology can provide the missing link that will finally unite both the Israelis and the Palestinians into one cohesive society devoid of politics and live in harmony. The professional discipline of social anthropology is a fairly recent phenomenon in the academe, having arisen largely out of the colonial period when imperialism was the dominant ideology. Anthropology and ethnography both claim to some kind of conceit or hubris, as these are rooted in some kind of unequal power encounter between the West (Israelis) and the Third World (Palestinians), and the viewpoint has always been one-directional, from the colonizer to the colonized, looking downwards. It is high time that anthropologists take the opposite view instead, from the viewpoint of the oppressed peoples of the world such as the Palestinians. It need not be a repetition of a colonial historical moment (Asad, 1973, p. 16) but now one of equality; what is really needed is a paradigm shift.
The wonderful monographs, incisive insights and extensive discussions of ethnographic studies should be applied to the practical realities of life, rather than being confined to readings reserved in the libraries of the academe and professional organizations. It somehow must try to fully understand all the feelings and frustrations of the Palestinian diaspora who have been rendered homeless and stateless (Amiry, 2010, p. 93). The question, then, is whether all serious anthropologists and ethnographers can be bold enough and visionary enough to really use all the knowledge they had gained to solve everyday problems and not just confined to mere studies.
References
Amiry, S. (2010). Nothing to lose but your life. Doha, Qatar: Bloomsbury Publishing.
Asad, T. (1973). Introduction. In T. Asad (Ed.), Anthropology and the colonial encounter (pp. 9-19). London, UK: Ithaca Press.