My Friend is a Palestinian Bedouin: IV.Methodology of the Study

My Friend is a Palestinian Bedouin: IV.Methodology of the Study

Daniel Weishut, Psy.D.

Following I will pose the research question and provide background relevant for auto-ethnographic research. This will be followed by a description of the research design, which is in line with a recent call for diversifying research ideas in cultural psychology (Jones, 2010). Subsequently, I will share several notes of caution.

Research question

Many aspects of intercultural friendship and of Bedouin culture are worth investigating, but some limits needed to be set. The question that has guided this research throughout is as follows: What are the challenges and opportunities in an intercultural friendship between a Jewish Israeli man of Western-European origin and a Muslim Palestinian man of Bedouin descent?

An autoethnographic case study

It has been suggested that researchers consider among others “the duality of ‘belonging’ (to groups, institutions, society, culture) and ‘uniqueness’ (individuality, difference, intersectionality) and […] identify the ways positive psychological outcomes are achieved in complex multifaceted contexts and the mechanisms that produce them” (Jones, 2010, p. 705). The present study is an attempt to do so, while describing the challenges and the opportunities encountered in a friendship of two unique individuals in the light of their belonging to different cultural groups. I will now provide some background on narrative research, friendship research and case selection, respectively.

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About the Author

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Daniel WeishutDaniel J.N. Weishut, born in the Netherlands but living in Jerusalem, is a professional with a diverse background. He holds an MA in Clinical Psychology and an MBA in Integrative Business Administration, both from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and a PsyD in Clinical and Organizational Psychology from the Professional School of Psychology (Sacramento). He has about thirty years of experience in consultation and therapy with a wide variety of clients and issues, more than twenty years of practice in group facilitation, and over fifteen years of know-how in governance and management in various organizations.Daniel Weishut offers his services as a "Partner on the Way", while taking a world-view that people are diverse but equal. He works with a variety of clients, but his special interest is in work with those who have found themselves persecuted or otherwise in conflict with their social environment, because of their culture, identity or belief system. For example: migrants, expats, refugees, Holocaust survivors, soldiers, pacifists, and individuals from religious, cultural or sexual minorities. Daniel Weishut is a social activist and in this capacity he volunteers as Chairperson of the Israeli Association of Group Psychotherapy, as Member of the Membership Appeals Committee of Amnesty International and as forensic expert for the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel. He also is involved in raising awareness about the situation of Bedouins around Jerusalem; awareness which led among others to the writing of his dissertation "My friend is a Palestinian Bedouin: Challenges and opportunities in intercultural friendship".

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