About the Department

We believe that understanding political processes, institutions, and ideas is key to an engaged citizenry and fundamental to a thriving democracy. Our curriculum fosters a thoughtful, critical, and active attitude towards politics, civility in public discourse; appreciation for alternative points of view; dialogue across political differences; and global awareness. Our program helps students develop the knowledge-base and skills to independently assess public debate claims and distinguish reasonable political disagreements between well-informed and thoughtful holders of opposed political opinions from unreasonable political disputes.

We support the equality and dignity of all persons in order to establish and promote an environment in which all can thrive. Visit the American Political Science Association’s Resources for on Systemic Racism & Social Justice.

 

Join Us for This Upcoming Event

A Conversation with Peter Beinart

Monday, February 17, 7-8:30 p.m. in Arts and Letters 201
Watch the event recording.

Acclaimed author and columnist Peter Beinart will discuss his new book "Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza" with SDSU Professors Jonathan Graubart and Manal Swairjo. The book confronts the dominant “pro-Israel” narrative, which features a recurring Jewish experience of persecution and victimhood that endures even amid Israel’s destruction of Gaza. That narrative, Beinart argues, both warps our understanding of Israel-Palestine and erases the richness of the Jewish experience. He imagines an alternate narrative of what it means to be a Jew and how to reckon with injustices perpetrated in the name of the Jewish people. In this future, Israeli Jews have the right to equality, not supremacy, while Jewish and Palestinian safety and dignity are co-dependent, not mutually exclusive.

As Adam Hochschild writes, “At this painful moment, Peter Beinart’s voice is more vital than ever. His reach is broad—from the tragedy of today’s Middle East to the South Africa he knows well to events centuries ago—his scholarship is deep, and his heart is big. This book is not just about being Jewish in the shadow of today’s war, but about being a person who cares for justice.”

Peter Beinart is a professor of journalism and political science at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY. He is also editor at large for Jewish Currents, publisher of The Beinart Notebook, a frequent contributor to The New York Times, and an MSNBC analyst.

Jonathan Graubart is a professor and chair of the SDSU Political Science Department. He is the author of "Jewish Self-Determination beyond Zionism: Lessons from Hannah Arendt and other Pariahs" (Temple University Press 2023). Graubart is a co-founder of Hinenu Havurah, a progressive Jewish collective in San Diego.

Manal Swairjo is a professor of biochemistry at SDSU. Her research focuses on RNA biogenesis processes and their links to human disease. Dr Swairjo was born in Gaza, Palestine. Much of her family in Gaza was killed by Israel’s destructive assault. In San Diego, she co-founded a Jewish-Palestinian dialogue in 2000 after the collapse of Oslo and the outbreak of the second Intifada.

 

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