Knowledge Production, Learner Autonomy, and Contentious Content: Writing the Arts of Palestine on Wikipedia

In the fall of 2024, I incorporated the Wikipedia Editing Project into my first-year seminar Palestine: Art, Memory, Exile and also into my upper-level art history course Palestinian Art and Visual Culture. While I had successfully implemented the project in previous semesters across all levels of my Islamic art history curriculum, using the assignment in the Palestinian art history courses generated both new administrative challenges and meaningful student learning opportunities. Not only is Palestinian art underrepresented on Wikipedia, the topic is also understudied in the broader field of art history in addition to being enmeshed with politically charged contemporary events.

In this presentation, I share the pitfalls of teaching contentious content with Wikipedia as well as strategies for overcoming these challenges. I discuss selecting articles that are at once viable topics for student research and impactful enough to increase student commitment and engagement, guiding students through the process of developing and organizing their research to successfully add wholly new articles to the Wikipedia platform, and preparing students to contribute critically, intentionally, and safely to topics related to sensitive subject matter.

Working on high stakes topics not only underrepresented on Wikipedia but also understudied in academic spheres cultivated learner autonomy. Through the collaborative research and writing of Wikipedia articles on Palestinian art, students had the opportunity to take control of their own learning, develop resiliency through setbacks, make decisions about what and how they present information to various publics, and take responsibility for their role in the production of knowledge.