Forensic Medicine in Palestine: Anthropological Study
Publisher: 
مؤسسة الدراسات الفلسطينية
Publication Year: 
2019
Language: 
Arabic
Number of Pages: 
314
TABLE OF CONTENT
Abstract

In this book, the researcher traces the history of forensic medicine practices and their current practices in occupied Palestine, especially inside the West Bank. Her work is driven by the need to understand the mechanisms and intersectionality between the systems of society, religion, politics with science, medicine and the judiciary – all within a newly established medical institution considered one of the icons of modern state’s sovereignty, albeit under a colonialist rule that eliminates the state’s sovereignty all-together. The book examines in detail the journey of the Palestinian corpse (be it for a male or a female), and the sphere it exists within - between the moment he/she is declared dead and the time he/she is buried, upon being brought to the Institute of Palestinian forensic medicine. The author believes that the history of all human societies, especially the history of the Palestinian society, can be read by following the tracks and practices of death; as the corpse has a socio-political mandate that surpasses its own being and transforms it into a thing and a separate being – at the same time-space dichotomy – that plays a vital role in reshaping living beings, things and time-space dichotomies around them.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Suhad Daher-Nashif, is a holder of a PhD in Social and Human Sciences, with a specialty in medical-cultural human science. After working in several research and academic institutes in Palestine, she currently works as an assistant professor for Behavioral and Social Sciences in the Faculty of Medicine in Qatar University. The author’s research interests are focused on examining the structural intersectionality between science, society and politics in social and medical systems, and the ways this intersectionality is manifested over the human body, through using forensic medicine and the practices of death as cases/contexts of research. The author is also examining the above intersectionality within the practices of psychological medicine and medical teaching programs. She has published several academic papers, the most recent of which was titled: “Either a Rebel or a Corpse: the First Palestinian Intifada as a Turning Point in Reshaping the Mandate of the Palestinian body and soul” (2019). Also, “Suspended Death: On Freezing Corpses and Muting Death of Palestinian Women Martyrs” (2018).