Charlotte, N.C./Aug. 15, 2023 – Israel-Palestine is a spiritual mecca for several world religions. Now, students at Johnson C. Smith University will have the opportunity to embark on a two-week journey to the region in Summer 2024.
This will be the first study abroad trip held since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which handicapped or altogether halted travel to certain areas outside of the U.S.
The trip, led by Drs. Melvin Herring, Cindy Kistenberg and Kendal Mobley, will give students the chance to immerse themselves in the cultural region of Israel-Palestine.
“The country will be our classroom,” said Kistenberg, who serves as an advising coordinator and a professor of Theatre and Communication Arts. “We will be touring and learning, but we’re also doing fun things, like rafting on the Jordan River and hiking. Students interested in being baptized in the Jordan River can do that, as well.”
The opportunity to participate in unique activities isn’t the only reason students should attend.
According to Herring and Mobley, students will get to explore a number of different subjects, including social work, religion, foreign policy, government and societal practices outside the U.S.
“We teach our students in the Social Work program to look at the way in which various populations engage with the institutions and systems in place around them,” said Herring, who is the director of JCSU’s Master of Social Work program. “While we won’t be able to do a deep dive, I would love for our students to walk away understanding the baseline of the populations that are typically oppressed and the services in place to address those in contrast to what we have here in the States.”
In Spring 2023, Herring and Kistenberg traveled the Deep South Pilgrimage with the Charlotte Black-Jewish Alliance, which took a diverse group of individuals through cities with a historical connection to the Civil Rights Movement. The group places a focus on understanding the intersectionality of oppression, specifically between the Black and Jewish communities, a topic he knows the group will explore on the trip.
“I have my domestic experience of being Black in America,” he said. “All of the work I’ve been involved in over the last 10 years has been about immergence. I believe that’s the only way we move toward equitable change. We have to immerse ourselves in our similarities and differences so we can realize what people need in order to make our experiences and our lives equitable.”
Equity is an issue in Israel-Palestine, where tensions in have risen over the last several decades due to conflicting views on which nations should control the State of Israel. Several wars and conflicts have raged on since the end of the 19th century.
Mobley, associate professor of Religion and Spiritual Life Center coordinator, said most people believe the conflict stems from religious differences. But colonialism is to blame.
“Jerusalem is a pilgrimage city for Islam, but also a religious center for Judaism, Christianity and many other religions,” said Mobley. "But it’s important to recognize that the main conflict isn’t religious, it’s colonial. I see it as the ‘last gasp’ of European colonialism. The displacement of the Palestinian people and the confiscation of their land parallels the consequences of colonialism around the world.”
Nevertheless, Mobley said that students who attend this study abroad trip will likely have an interest due to their faith.
“They want to see the sites they’ve read about in the Bible or learned about in religious history courses,” he added. “From a religious study prospective, I think it is important that our students learn that religions are human systems. Despite all the diversity among religions and cultures around the world, religions all have a similar purpose. They are involved in identity construction and the establishment of norms and communicating primary values to help people understand what is important.”
Kistenberg said students interested in the program should plan to attend one of two interest meeting sessions held on Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2023, from 4 to 5 p.m. or 6 to 7 p.m. in Yancy Hall TC Room 103.
The session will give more in-depth information about the trip. JCSU will cover all but $500 of the trip fees. The trip can be paid off on a payment plan. All full-time JCSU students are eligible to apply.
Students going on the trip will need a passport that doesn’t expire before Jan. 2023 or will need to obtain a passport that they will have in hand by Feb. 1, 2024. All participants will be required to attend three pre-travel meetings during the spring semester. For more information, contact Herring, Kistenberg or Mobley via email.
