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Warshel. Y. Experiencing the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Children, Peace Communication and Socialization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (2021 Hardback, 2022 Paperback)

Over the last eighty years there has been a global rise in “peace communication” practice, the use of interpersonal and mass communication interventions to mediate between peoples engaged in political conflict. In this study, Yael Warshel assesses Israeli and Palestinian versions of Sesame Street, which targeted negative inter-group attitudes and stereotypes. Merging communication, peace and conflict studies, social psychology, anthropology, political science, education, Middle Eastern and childhood studies, this book provides a template to think about how audiences receive, interpret, use and are influenced by peace communication. By picking apart the text and subtext of the kind of media these specific audiences of children consume, Warshel examines how they interpret peace communication interventions, are socialized into Palestinians, Jewish Israelis and Arab/Palestinian Israelis, the political opinions they express and the violence they reproduce. She questions whether peace communication practices have any relevant structural impact on their audiences, critiques such interventions and offers recommendations for improving future communication interventions into political conflict worldwide.

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Awards

2024 Next Generation Indie Book Award Finalist for Current Events

2024 International Studies Association Book Award runner-up in International Communication

 

2023 National Communication Association Book of the Year Award in Ethics

2023 International Communication Association Activism, Communication and Social Justice Outstanding Book Award Honorable

         Mention

2022 National Communication Association Sue DeWine Distinguished Scholarly Book Award for advances to applied

         communication theory and research

2021 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication pedagogy Award in International Communication (in conjunction with a module Warshel created using the book to foster comparative cross-national categorical and empathetic based understandings about “groupings” party to armed conflict as means to make sense of conflicts worldwide and comparatively employ communication as means for their resolve.)

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Critically Acclaimed Book Reviews

Wilkins, K.  (2021). “Experiencing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Children, peace communication and socialization (book review),” Critical Studies in Media and Communication,38(4), 370-374. DOI: 10.1080/15295036.2021.1947684

Simons, J. (2021). “Experiencing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Children, peace communication and socialization (book review),” Communication Review, 24(2) 196-198.  DOI:10.1080/10714421.2021.1951095

Ellis, D. (2021). “Experiencing the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Children, Peace Communication and Socialization (book review),” International Journal of Communication, 15. https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/18039/3533

Lazarus, N. (2021). “Experiencing the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Children, Peace Communication and Socialization (book review),” Israel Studies Review, 36(2).  DOI: 10.3167.isr.2021.360210

Hassencahl, F. (2021). “Experiencing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Children, peace communication and socialization (book review),” Review of Middle East Studies, 55(1)194-196. DOI: 10.1017/rms.2021.45

Kaufman, E.  (2023). “Experiencing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Children, peace communication and socialization (book review),” Palestine-Israel Journal, 28(3&4)
         

Interviews and Podcasts

 Yael Warshel Talks with Dylan Baun and Tory Bykalski at the Association for Middle East Children and Youth Studies’ Digital Author Series, Jadaliyya, Palestine-Israel  (Dec. 1, 2021). www.jadaliyya.com/Details/43579

Acclaim From the Critics

Anonymous

"One of the more impressive books I’ve read in my field – ever."

Anonymous

"A tour de force"

Anonymous

"The book is quite simply outstanding, and very likely to become a must-cite resource for scholars in multiple disciplines"

Donald Ellis, International Journal of Communication

"Superb and timely work”

Ned Lazarus, Israel Studies Review

"A resounding success"

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Karin Gwinn Wilkins

University of Miami and Critical Studies in Media Communication

“Very few scholars have the language skills and cultural familiarity to be able to conduct a comparative case study such as this with such sensitivity.”
 
"Sesame Street serves as one of the most well-studied and prominent children’s television programs we have witnessed in the United States (US). While the global aspirations of this production may reflect noble intentions, the implementation of this communication intervention illustrates the serious fissures in its reception. Learning from failed attempts will lead not only to improving strategic communication, but also will strengthen our ability to engage in meaningful and impactful social change. Warshel’s (Pennsylvania State University) impressive book, Experiencing the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Children, Peace Communication and Socialization (2021), offers important reflections on the failure of this project to achieve its goals."
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