• Palestinian Culture and the Nakba: Bearing Witness

    Author(s):
    Hania A.M. Nashef (see profile)
    Date:
    2018
    Group(s):
    CLCS Global Arab and Arab American, LLC Arabic, MLA Members for Justice in Palestine, Postcolonial Studies, TC Postcolonial Studies
    Subject(s):
    Middle East--Palestine, Area studies, Collective memory, Culture--Study and teaching, Motion pictures, Poetry
    Item Type:
    Book
    Tag(s):
    Naji al-Ali, Mahmoud Darwish, Ghassan Kanafani, Elia Suleiman, Ismail Shammout, Palestine studies, Cultural memory, Cultural studies, Film
    Permanent URL:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/M6DR2P83H
    Abstract:
    The Nakba not only resulted in the loss of the homeland, but also caused the dispersal and ruin of entire Palestinian communities. Even though the term Nakba refers to a singular historic event, the consequence of 1948 has symptomatically become part of Palestinian identity, and the element that demarcates who the Palestinian is. Palestinian exile and loss have evolved into cultural symbols that at once help define the person and allow the person to remember the loss. Although accounts of the Palestinians’ experience of the expulsion from the land are similar, the emblems that provoke these particular memories differ. Certain mementos, memories or objects help in commemorating the homeland. This book looks at the icons, narratives and symbols that have become synonymous with Palestinian identity and culture and which have, in the absence of a homeland, become a source of memory. It discusses how these icons have come into being and how they have evolved into sites of power which help to keep the story and identity of the Palestinians alive. The book looks at examples from Palestinian caricature, film, literature, poetry and painting, to see how these works ignite memories of the homeland and help reinforce the diasporic identity. It also argues that the creators of these narratives or emblems have themselves become cultural icons within the collective Palestinian recollection. By introducing the Nakba as a lived experience, this book will appeal to students and scholars of Middle East Studies, Cultural Studies, Literature and Media Studies.
    Notes:
    Chapters: 1 Hanthala: the immortal child 2 Nazareth: icon of a lost homeland in Elia Suleiman’s film trilogy 3 Mahmoud Darwish: the storyteller of Palestine 4. Ghassan Kanafani: the clock, the orange and what remains of the homeland 5 Ismael Shammout and Tamam al-Akhal: The Exodus and The Odyssey 148
    Metadata:
    Published as:
    Book    
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    5 years ago
    License:
    All Rights Reserved
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