The First Doctoral Dissertation Defense Held in the Department of Sociology

Dalal Bajes Salem, a PhD candidate in the Department of Sociology at Ibn Haldun University, successfully defended her dissertation titled “The Islamic Bloc in Palestinian Universities: Student Resistance, Mobilization, and Political Opportunity Structures”, marking the first doctoral dissertation defense in the department.

This dissertation traces the evolution of the Islamic Bloc, founded in 1980, up to the 2021 Seif Al-Quds uprising and examines how Palestinian student activism has been shaped by the interaction between religious identity, political opportunities, and university autonomy. Drawing on oral histories, archival sources, and 31 interviews, it argues that effective mobilization requires both anger-driven agency and enabling structures. By offering a holistic framework for understanding Islamic student movements under occupation, the dissertation highlights how religious identity and structural opportunities work together to sustain collective resistance.

We congratulate our student Dalal Bajes Salem on this achievement and wish her success in her future endeavors.