Conceptualizing Modern Palestine: Exemplars of Liberating Knowledge

“Conceptualizing Modern Palestine: Exemplars of Liberating Knowledge” includes seven academic articles that examine several elements of the grand classical themes of Palestinian national identity concerning the land, the people, and the narrative. The articles are authored by seven doctoral candidates from the Ph.D. Program in Social Sciences at Birzeit University as contributions to the discussion on the meanings of Palestine as an identity and a cause. These chapters constitute a guide to understanding modern Palestine from within historic Palestine, through various methodologies and approaches that attempt to portray Palestine in its fragmented geography and demography, as well as its diverse culture. The tools they employ are notable both for the originality of the case-studies under examination and the indigeneity of the methodologies used. These methodologies used by the scholars range from postcolonial studies to indigenous studies and militant research. The various orientations of the fields of study the researchers work in and their methodologies allowed them the opportunity to conduct a two-pronged critique of the ideological persistence of the Zionist colonial project, and the transmutations that the Palestinian national liberation project has undergone on the political, social, and cultural levels.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Abdul-Rahim al-Shaikh, Professor of Philosophy and Cultural and Arab Studies at Birzeit University. His academic work focuses on nationalism, identity politics, Arabic poetry and translation. His artistic criticism focuses on visual expressions of Palestinian identity. His recent publications include: The Darwish Syndrome: Changes in Palestinian Culture 1964 – 2021 (2021); Rasim al-Da'ira (2021); The Other Voice: An Introduction to the Phenomenology of Change (2020).

email address: [email protected]

Fayruz Salem, PhD candidate in the Social Sciences program at Birzeit University, preparing a dissertation entitled “Producing and Managing Vulnerability/Resilience in Area C in the West Bank." She completed a master's in international studies at the same university with a dissertation entitled “The Emerging Art of the Possible: Turkish Policies in the 21^st Century.” She works in rural development and her research interests in anthropology have focused on rural and marginalized areas of Palestine.

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Kholoud Nasser, PhD candidate in the Social Sciences program at Birzeit University, preparing a dissertation on “The agency of Palestinian Society in the face of hydro-apartheid imposed by Israel”. She has a master's degree in public and community health from the same university, a bachelor's degree in laboratory medicine from al-Quds University, and a diploma in strategic planning. Her research interests lie primarily in the field of social sciences but span across several areas such as public health, political ecology, and education.

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Ashraf Bader, Lecturer in the Philosophy and Cultural Studies Department and PhD candidate in the Social Sciences program at Birzeit University, preparing a dissertation entitled “The System of Control under Israeli Military Rule in the Areas Colonized in 1967, between 1967 and 1981, Agricultural Bio-Power as an Introduction”. He has a master's degree in Israeli studies from al-Quds University, where his master's dissertation, “Israel and Hamas: The Dialectic of Repulsion, Interaction and Negotiation (1987-2014)”, was published. He specializes in Palestinian and Israeli affairs.

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Qasam al-Haj, Lecturer in the Philosophy and Cultural Studies department and Ph.D. candidate in the Social Sciences program at Birzeit University. She is preparing a dissertation entitled “Teaching Palestine: Palestinian Liberatory Academia in Palestinian Universities 1977-2018.” She completed a master's degree in contemporary Arabic studies at the same university, with a dissertation entitled “The Palestinian Political Song: The Epic and the Narrative”, and she has a diploma in education. Her research interests are centered on interdisciplinary fields, studying the intersection of cultural studies, Palestinian identity, and contemporary Arab studies.

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Ali Musa, Lecturer in the Philosophy and Cultural Studies department and PhD candidate in the Social Sciences program at Birzeit University, preparing a dissertation entitled “Memory of Childhood Places in Palestinian Autobiography”. He has a master's in contemporary Arab studies from the same university and is interested in studying individual and collective memory and their relationship with identity, place, time and childhood, in the framework of Palestinian social history through autobiographies, memoirs and diaries.

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Asma' al-Sharbati, University lecturer and PhD candidate in Social Sciences at Birzeit University, preparing a dissertation entitled “Studying the Representation of Palestinian Identity in Palestinian National Curricula”. She has a master's degree in International Cooperation and Development (MICAD) from Bethlehem University and is an instructor in the field of Employability/Soft skills and a consultant on designing courses on communication skills. She is interested in the sociology of education and the training sector in Palestine.

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Abd al-Jawad Omar, Lecturer in the Philosophy and Cultural Studies department and PhD candidate in the Social Sciences program at Birzeit University, preparing a dissertation entitled “Formations of Resistances: The Second Palestinian Intifada”. He has a master's degree in international studies and economics from Johns Hopkins University in the United States, and a bachelor's degree from Utrecht University in the Netherlands. He is interested in studying resistance and revolutionary violence as a political and socio-psychological condition that has helped to shape Palestinian identity.

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Table of Contents

مفهمة فلسطين الحديثة	Abdul-Rahim al-Shaikh
من أروقة المحاكم الاستعمارية إلى الأرض: الصراع اليومي على الزمان والمكان في الأغوار الفلسطينية	Fairouz Salem
سؤال الديموغرافيا: بين التوجهات الفلسطينية والإسرائيلية الراهنة	Kholoud Nasser
الاشمئزاز كآلية استعمارية: الاستعمار الصهيوني نموذجاً	Ashraf Bader
حظر التجوّل والإغلاقات العسكرية: اعتقال الزمكان الفلسطيني وتحريره	Qasam al-Haj
أبعاد الهوية الفلسطينية في سير ذاتية ومذكرات من نابلس (1948 –1967)	Ali Musa
صور الفاعلية في الكتب المدرسية الفلسطينية	Asma’ al-Sharbati
ما-بعد فلسطين: الخطاب الثقافي الفلسطيني وتراجيديا الهزيمة	Abd al-Jawad Omar