WAR AND REMEMBRANCE: AL-NAKBA AS A STRUCTURE IN THE PRESERVATION OF IDENTITY AND PALESTINIAN CONCIOUSNESS

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Hasian, A. (2020). WAR AND REMEMBRANCE: AL-NAKBA AS A STRUCTURE IN THE PRESERVATION OF IDENTITY AND PALESTINIAN CONCIOUSNESS. Unc Charlotte Electronic Theses And Dissertations.
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Abstract

The Israelis recognize the 1948 Arab-Israeli War as a war of independence. For the Palestinians, it is known as al-Nakba—the "Catastrophe". The war helped create the state of Israel while displacing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. However, al-Nakba, in the Palestinian consciousness, is not a singular event. It represents all that has encompassed the Palestinian struggle for justice since 1948. Al-Nakba is comprised of a set of shared beliefs, myths, commemorative practices and memories that form a functioning social structure that Palestinians utilize to preserve identity. Building on the structural theories of Raymond Williams and Patrick Wolfe, and by using oral testimony from Palestinian refugees and their descendants, this paper demonstrates that the ideas, themes and tropes that Palestinians use in order to understand, practice, maintain, and create identity, are part of an underlying social structure known as al-Nakba.

Details
Author

Hasian, Adam

Title

WAR AND REMEMBRANCE: AL-NAKBA AS A STRUCTURE IN THE PRESERVATION OF IDENTITY AND PALESTINIAN CONCIOUSNESS

Physical Description

1 online resource (166 pages) : PDF

Date

2020

Degree Granting Institution

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Abstract

The Israelis recognize the 1948 Arab-Israeli War as a war of independence. For the Palestinians, it is known as al-Nakba—the "Catastrophe". The war helped create the state of Israel while displacing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. However, al-Nakba, in the Palestinian consciousness, is not a singular event. It represents all that has encompassed the Palestinian struggle for justice since 1948. Al-Nakba is comprised of a set of shared beliefs, myths, commemorative practices and memories that form a functioning social structure that Palestinians utilize to preserve identity. Building on the structural theories of Raymond Williams and Patrick Wolfe, and by using oral testimony from Palestinian refugees and their descendants, this paper demonstrates that the ideas, themes and tropes that Palestinians use in order to understand, practice, maintain, and create identity, are part of an underlying social structure known as al-Nakba.

Genre

masters theses

Subjects--Topics

History

Subjects--Places

Middle East

Degree

M.A.

Keywords

Al-Nakba
Arab Israeli War
Identity
Memory
Palestine
Structure

Subject Area

History

Advisor(s)

Fratantuono, Ella

Committee Members

McEachnie, Robert
Massino, Jill
Dalsheim, Joyce

Degree Note

Thesis (M.A.)--University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 2020.

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Rights Holder Information

Copyright is held by the author unless otherwise indicated.

Identifier

Hasian_uncc_0694N_12615

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.13093/etd:2624