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Palestine! Imaginaries and forms of struggle, from here and there

Call for paper for issue 182-183 of the Journal des anthropologues.

Version française

It is not easy to approach, from the point of view of the social sciences, the tragic events happening in occupied Palestine, which the highest international courts of justice have described as a mass 'extermination' and which many specialists no longer hesitate to recognise as genocidal.

This issue invites us to take a critical look at the many imaginaries and forms of struggle that Palestine brings together, unfolding in various mobilisations, producing conflict or commons, confronting hyperviolence there, and repression of freedom of expression affecting the university and civil society here. At the heart of the extreme violence of a world-system whose contradictions it reveals, Palestine confronts us with the flaws of a 'humanitarian order' as it was constructed in the aftermath of the Second World War, with the promise of a supranational commitment to the 'universality of human rights'.

Thinking Palestine and the images it brings together also means thinking about the status of images in a war in which information is the subject of a merciless struggle, while the emotionally-charged representation of Palestinian death and invalid bodies overflows social networks, contrasting with its invisibilisation by the dominant television media.

The aim of this issue is therefore to explore what 'Palestine' makes exist and imagine. “Palestine” refers to an imaginary, a symbol, a territory and a people, but also to a range of struggles, wars, displacements, dispossessions and resistance. It activates resonances, finds echoes, and sows localised hopes on a global scale. Our focus will be on the different forms taken by these imaginaries, understood in their depth, their historical continuities and ruptures, their socio-political anchorage in the present, and their subjective and affective singularities. How are these imaginaries mobilised, and what do they generate in terms of struggle, resistance and existential projects for Palestine? What kind of 'us' do they make possible, and what concrete forms do they take? We want to compare a variety of national contexts in order to sketch out a new cartography of the world centred on Palestine, kaleidoscopically unfolding from a plurality of imaginaries, expressed in as many concrete struggles and politically situated positions. We will focus on three orientations:

  1. Imaginations and struggles in situ. In the wake of the massive destruction of homes, schools and hospitals, this first theme looks at what keeps those who call themselves the “Palestinian people” on their feet. What do the survivors cling to in order to overcome death and destruction? What remains of the struggles, memories, heritage, territory, culture and history of a people that is being wiped out? The scale of the bombardment of Gaza and the destruction of its archives bear witness to the annihilation of the city as a means of erasing a society. Faced with the grabbing of agricultural land in a context of famine and ecological devastation in Gaza, added to the acceleration of colonisation in the West Bank, what practices have the Palestinians implemented to preserve their dignity and their political projects? This theme will provide an opportunity to study the Palestinian imaginaries and the forms of resistance it deploys, an expression of the refusal of extreme domination and which is projected in an abundant artistic and literary production in which the hopes of regained freedom are expressed. This theme also draws attention to the Palestinian diaspora: what are the political, cultural, artistic, scientific, militant and trade union investments and productions of those who claim a Palestinian identity?

  2. Imaginaries on a global scale that produce 'common' This second theme looks at what Palestine brings to life in a globalised social field, and the forms of resistance, causes and political struggles that it gives rise to. From South Africa to Algeria, via Northern Ireland and Colombia, how do these imaginaries interconnect with singular local histories? How do they contribute to the renewal of anti-imperialist narratives and to new international solidarities, outlining new ways of thinking about the contemporary world? Whether they challenge or reinforce the usual dividing lines - North/South, Arab World/West - these imaginaries and the concrete practices they produce can unfold exclusively in the ethereal sky of ideas, sometimes revealing forms of opportunistic recuperation that need to be analysed, or give rise to concrete practices of solidarity, such as the boycott, conceived as non-violent resistance. How do these practices relate to the policies of their national governments, and what experiences and reconfigurations of belonging are involved? This theme invites contributions from all geographical areas.

  3. Revealing repression, bans and censorship. The aim of this third theme is to ethnography what prohibits, represses and neutralises support for Palestine, and what incapacitates thinking in solidarity. The aim is to analyse the reasons for the taboos that affect this resistance, and to study the ways in which resistance is organised to thwart or circumvent these normative injunctions and their deleterious effects on the expression of solidarity. It is an invitation to Israeli voices that highlight what, in their society, has made possible the policy of unlimited decimation and destruction of the Palestinian people, and more generally, to contributions that describe the ordinary mechanisms of a 'fascisation' of the mind. While focusing on the political divisions in the public arena, this theme also looks at the conflicts that tear apart the family, friends and other intimate spaces, and which are exacerbated through social networks and the internet.

This issue is open to contributions from a range of social science disciplines. However, we also welcome proposals for articles that take up this call for papers by analysing the field practices of NGOs, activists and trade unions, outside the academic framework. A separate photographic section is planned for this issue. Images may be submitted for this purpose.

Submission of abstracts and timetable

Proposals for contributions may be submitted in English, French and Arabic. They should present the empirical cases studied and the associated theoretical questions. Proposals should not exceed 3,000 characters (or 200 words) and should be sent by 14 November 2024 to the three coordinators, Kassia Aleksic, Judith Hayem and Fatiha Kaouès, at palestine.jda@gmail.com.

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