The individual that I chose to interview was my cousin Anais Amer. She has always been one of those people I looked up to from a young age. She always did as she pleased, moved where she wanted, and never failed to speak her mind. Anais taught me what it means to be an activist. She is one of the most outspoken individuals I know, always speaking for and demanding justice. Anais has worked hard to connect with her Palestinian heritage and share her experiences with the world. She attended high school in Jordan, college in the United States, and soon after returned to teach at the very high school she attended.

I have witnessed Anais’s activism through the years. When she was just first learning to find her voice, when it was its loudest, and where it is today. Today, is where our interview mainly focussed. I wanted to see what it was like to be a high school teacher and where her activism fit into her life now. I was curious to see how she continued to practice and preach what she cared about most, the liberation of Palestine, while balancing her job. I wondered if this was possible? Could these two sides of her co-exist? Would she have to give one or the other up?

We checked in on one another. As Palestinians, these past few months have been hard to live with. Continuing our every day lives while a genocide unfolds is not an easy task. Especially when not enough of the world is listening. “There have been moments of fear, sadness, and also strength and resilience” Anais says as she described the emotional roller coaster she has been one; one that many can relate to. Anais has come to learn over the years that you do not have to be not he front lines to be doing good work. All activism is important. Even as a teacher, teaching history and English, Anais has not pushed an agenda on students but she has rather taught them the truth. And more importantly, she has given them the tools to find the truth themselves. Anais acknowledged that she feels her role as an outward activist has lessened over the years and she really tries to make an impact through her teaching; she is an activist through her teaching. The beautiful thing is that her ways of teaching and truth telling are encouraged by her administration. She is not silenced by anyone. Most of her students are Arab, Palestinian, Jordanian, etc. This is all their history and their roots. Anais works hard to make sure her students know they have a voice that deserves and needs to be heard. Below is a poster that Anais has hung in her classroom. 

We lastly discussed her more personal feelings towards her own activism and not so much in the classroom. Sadly, Anais has had to censor herself over the years as she has faced backlash for much of what she has shared on social media. Her accounts are not private and her activism account BintFalisteen is only shared with her inner circle. She also shared with me that while she often tries to organize rallies in Jordan, it is difficult with her not being a Jordanian citizen. That however has not stopped her from conversation with those different from her and even changing the minds of “devout zionists”.

I walked away from this interview learning many things about my cousin and myself. But what most stuck with me was that activism can take shape in any form. It does not just mean protesting and marching with signs. And nice importantly what also stated out to me from this interview is that we must teach the generations below us to demand action. Every generation below will be the ones to carry on the movements that we care so deeply for now. What Anais does, by teaching her student to find the truth and demand justice, is what this world needs. She is raising the next generation of activists. Many times we see people care about a movement for a moment of time and once it leaves the news, everyone forgets. Anais’s approach is one that makes a struggling peoples problem, our problem. I think those are two of the most important things when it comes to peace, justice, and protest.

Anais continues to do the important work, and that is of teaching and guiding the generation below her to create a more well rounded and educated group of individuals and encourage them to make the change they want to see in the world. Anais has grown so much as an individual and hopes to continue to do so. She is a proud Palestinian, as am I, and even more proud to call her my cousin.

The person I interviewed in the Peace Studies Department was Dr. Dani Smith. The reason why I interviewed her was because I took her course in mediation last semester. I found it really interesting and eye opening, especially with the use of mediation on an international level. I asked her a total of 4 questions.

The first question I asked was what peace studies as a field meant to her. She explained that over different generations it changed; she first started getting involved due to the Vietnam War, and how things could change with a different approach to these conflicts. However, many viewed the study to be something along the lines of hippie culture, mostly correlating the field/ideas to the phrase “make love, not war”. Despite this misunderstanding of the field, she found it interesting and helpful to be able to understand conflicts in an intelligent manner, as well as discuss and articulate the fears surrounding specific conflicts with those who study in the field. The second question I asked was, “What do you think when you hear peace as a profession?” She replied that it’s a profession needed to understand all levels of conflict, from interpersonal, psychological, historical, and cultural. What also needs to be examined is the spillover effect of such violence, such as generational trauma, in long lasting cases. She explains that the profession delves deeper into the difference in individualistic and collectivist cultures, and how as people we need a balance of both, or else there will be issues of exclusion or outcasts amongst community members. The next question I asked her was whether or not there’s been a big change in the department since she started working at Chapman. I found this question to be relevant because professors can come from different backgrounds, but now come together to work in a department where the concept of peace studies can be interpreted differently between each person. She said that Don Will, who founded the department at Chapman in 1993, worked with her to create a class that taught mediation, as mediation is a huge part in Peace Studies. The course started off as 1 unit, but over time as the class became more established, it went up to 3 units, making it the class we know of today.

The last question I asked was whether or not Dr. Smith believed that mediation can benefit large level conflicts, or if there are only sufficient results for interpersonal conflicts. She said that mediation can be successful for international level conflicts, but the mediator must remain neutral and unbiased between the two parties. No one can have some sort of stake in the game, such as a country being a well known ally of one of the parties, as this leads to bias. Despite all this, she’s hopeful that it is another solution that we can eventually come to rely on in the international sphere. 

Through my conversation with Dr. Smith, I felt like I learned a lot from a professor’s perspective about the field and department. As students we’re expected to take in all the information without truly understanding why the professor teaches the concept the way they do and why they feel so passionately about the topic they teach. For Dr. Smith, mediation is not just an act of resolution, but something that can bring peace and less war to the world. There can be a decrease of violence, starting from cultural, going all the way down to interpersonal.