We’re thrilled to announce that CBRL’s 2018 prize for Best Undergraduate Dissertation in Levantine studies has been awarded to Nathan Tipping who graduated from the University of Warwick this summer with a degree in History and Politics.

Earlier this year CBRL invited UK based heads of departments and chairs of departmental examination boards to nominate one final year first-class dissertation that covered Levantine studies. CBRL’s evaluating committee, made up of members of CBRL trustees, commented on Nathan’s dissertation: “The work is original in its adaptation and development of securitisation theory and in its case study, the literature review and the analysis are performed with exemplary rigour, the treatment shows deep contextualisation and it very well written, clearly and logically structured with a rich and informative use of language.”

Nathan’s dissertation examines the process through which Palestinian children are constructed as a ‘threat’ to Israel through the lens of the Copenhagen School of securitisation. Both sociological conceptions of ‘childhood’ and postcolonial theory are used to supplement this analysis. Through examining a range of Israeli sources – including media coverage, statements by Members of the Knesset (MKs) and the case of imprisoned teenage activist Ahed Tamimi – the dissertation explores the ways in which Palestinian children are (re)produced as security threats in Israeli discourse.

As part of the University of Warwick’s Research Support Scheme programme, Nathan spent six weeks conducting research in the West Bank during the summer of 2017, looking at the changing nature of fatherhood under the occupation. Nathan is now working for GFC Media Group in London where he writes for a publication that focuses on emerging market credit.