Navigation – Plan du site

AccueilActualités et ressourcesAppels en coursWritings amid conflict: Producing...

Writings amid conflict: Producing knowledge about Palestine

A publication project proposed by Taher Labadi (IFPO) et Najla Nakhlé-Cerruti (IREMAM, Cnrs, Aix-Marseille Université)

Summary

Since 7 October 2023, Palestine has once again been at the top of the international public agenda. The exponential number of publications, reportages and debates on the subject, including in France, testifies to the need to comment, to understand and to take a stand. Moved by emotions, by questions as profound as they are sudden, and by political and media injunctions, academics have also taken part in the debates in an attempt to provide their own insights. They have faced many difficulties, not least the need to produce informed analyses amid a war that was likely to be particularly murderous and painful.

In France, scholars specializing in Palestinian Studies have also been subject to delegitimization or even silencing. Many works have already dealt with the scientific and extra-scientific challenges that can arise when conducting research in sensitive areas or in conflict situations (Ayimpam and Boujou, 2015; Boumaza and Campana, 2007; Calmels et al., 2024; Hadj-Moussa, 2019), particularly in Palestine (Abdelnour and Abu Moghli, 2021; Lamarche, 2015; Romani, 2007). In the context of Palestinian Studies, however, the French academic field itself is a site of sensitivity and conflict. Professors have been accused of anti-Semitism or apology for terrorism, students mobilizing against the war have been punished or even arrested, and scientific events have been cancelled.

Spaces for debate and training have paradoxically shrunk at a time when they are probably most needed. These developments are challenging academics to defend the conditions under which they practise their profession and to question the status of scientific knowledge in the public arena, particularly when it concerns Palestine. Despite calls for academic freedom to be defended and collective initiatives to disseminate academic work on Palestine, research and teaching must now take place in new political, institutional and even security conditions, both in France and, of course, on the ground in Palestine (Lynch, 2024).

The plight of the population and the deterioration of the situation in the areas investigated, particularly in the Gaza Strip, are of real concern to researchers working in the region, first and foremost in human terms, but also in scientific terms. The ongoing war is also affecting Palestinian students, teachers and places of learning in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Israel. The threat to the most basic conditions for the production and transmission of knowledge raises questions about the fundamental nature of research and teaching, and even information, testimony and archives, in times of war.

Palestine offers a field of study in which epistemological and ethical questions arise with particular force. Similarly, Palestinian Studies are a privileged observatory of the power dynamics and conflicts of meaning that condition and inform all academic and scientific writing (Massad, 2005). The formulation of research hypotheses, the engagement in theoretical controversies, the choice of methodological approaches and the sharing and discussion of results all have implications and take on meanings that go well beyond the boundaries of the scientific field. We feel it is both important and urgent to document and consider these implications and meanings.

This issue of the REMMM aims to initiate a collective reflection on the production of knowledge about Palestine and on the steps and modalities of its circulation, reception and conservation. To do so, it proposes to take a reflexive step back from earlier work focused on the dynamics of Palestinian society (Bontemps et al., 2020; Alsajdeya, Ceccaldi and Dabed, 2021; Guignard and Seurat, 2020) to return to the theoretical, methodological or even ethical and political implications that underlie any production of knowledge in this particular context. We will also raise the question of the boundaries between academic writing and other forms of writing – produced by writers, artists, activists, experts, journalists, etc. – as well as the interactions, competitions and hybridizations that may exist between them in the Palestinian context (France, 2018).

Focuses

Section 1 – A particular field of study? Concepts, theories and boundaries of Palestinian Studies

This section will examine the reading grids developed and used to interpret the Palestinian terrain. Researchers in Palestinian Studies regularly debate which paradigms and concepts (state-building, apartheid, settler colonialism, etc.) best describe Palestinian contexts and shed light on them (Al-Hardan, 2014; Amoruso, Pappe and Richter-Devroe, 2019; El-Sakka, 2022). In a context where political borders are contested and constantly evolving, the very fixing of the borders of the object studied and its designation (West Bank with or without East Jerusalem, occupied territories, Palestine/Israel, etc.) are subjects of questioning and disagreements (El Sakka, 2022; Sorek and Ghanim, 2024; Latte Abdallah and Parizot, 2017). Likewise, we will question the effects that postulates and hypotheses from the diplomatic (one or two state solution), legal (international law), economic (free trade, development) registers can have on research and writing.

These debates participate in establishing the specificity of Palestinian studies or, on the contrary, in opening up wider comparisons and contextualizations. In this respect, we need to question what leads academics to consider Palestine as a separate subject. This could lead to an examination of what does or does not make Palestinian Studies particular and to a review of how they are structured as a field, with particular focus on the French academic landscape. What spaces (seminars, journals, institutes, etc.) contribute to the structuring of this field, including at transnational level? How have they evolved? What is the specific role of researchers and institutions from the Palestinian diaspora? Consideration could be given to the scientific and/or institutional issues raised by such a specificity.

It will also question the causes of the academic exceptionalism that often prevails with regard to Palestine (Kagan, 2009) and its relationship with a supposed political exceptionalism. Against this backdrop, over the last decade or so there has been a renewal of Palestinian Studies, with the aim of disenclaving them (Bontemps et al., 2020). This is reflected, among other things, in the growing importance of research conducted through a colonial lens, particularly in the Anglo-American world (Barakat, 2018; Sabbagh-Khoury, 2021; Veracini, 2013) and, to a lesser extent, in France (Labadi, 2020). This work goes hand in hand with a reflection on the challenges of including Palestinian Studies in other disciplinary fields (Collins, 2011; Hanieh, 2013; Shweiki and Turner, 2014). What comparisons are possible in analysing and studying phenomena taking place in the Palestinian field? What problematizations make it possible to reinscribe Palestine in its regional and global context? Finally, the contributions will explore the evolution of the concepts, theories and boundaries of Palestinian Studies in the light of the ongoing war.

Section 2 – Writing from and with the sources of the Palestinian field

The second section will question what it means for the researcher to write from and with the sources of the Palestinian field (Marzo and Gomez-Perez, 2020; Massicard, 2002). It will look too at the field’s effects on the research object and the methods used to complete the investigation (Aldrin et al., 2022; Hennequin and Condomines, 2022). What ethical and axiological considerations are raised by the production of writings based on this particular field? How are these epistemological considerations affected by changes in the political and security situation (Oslo Accords, intifadas, Palestinian political division, etc.)? How are they affected by experiences and encounters, and how does this in turn affect the subject and field of investigation? How do researchers confront their own emotions (Abdallah and Yousfi, 2020) and feelings of belonging, alterity, empathy, neutrality, animosity or solidarity?

In a context of fragmentation, both territorial and narrative, we have witnessed an increasingly narrow circumscription of research objects and fields, while others have been neglected, or even become a blind spot in studies and writing (Bier, 2017; Tabar et al., 2015). This can be explained by the difficulties of access (to the Gaza Strip, the northern West Bank), but also by their political and media marginalization (as experienced by Palestinians “from within” Israel and in refugee camps outside Palestine). How do these difficulties affect the construction of research objects and the production of writings, as well as the way in which surveys are conducted and data collected? The contributions will also consider the inequalities resulting from these difficulties and the epistemological issues that they raise.

The difficulty of gaining access to the field is compounded by the difficulty of gaining access to sources, particularly written sources. Palestinian archives, where they exist, are thinly scattered, while access to primary sources held by actors or those entrusted with their safekeeping remains difficult if not impossible. This difficulty is compounded by the appropriation, rearrangement and even destruction of documents by Israeli state actors since 1948. The memory held in documents, archives and literary texts is therefore particularly under threat (Nakhlé-Cerruti, 2020; Sfeir, 2014; Sleiman, 2016). Under these conditions, how can Palestine be documented? How do researchers contribute to heritage operations or the creation of archives? What tools and strategies can be used to access documentary and heritage resources and make them accessible? How can we address the new challenges posed by the ongoing war?

Section 3 – Writings at the heart of conflicts

In the third section, we will consider the ethical and political issues raised by the act of writing about Palestine and the Palestinians, or when one is Palestinian. In the light of a vast field of work on symbolic violence and the conflictuality of knowledge (Ajari, 2019; Bourdieu, 2001; Mignolo, 2013), we question writing practices and what they do to their objects and to the different audiences who receive them. In a context of conflict over narrative (Bourmaud, 2002; Masalha, 2012; Picaudou, 2006), and where the invisibilization of the Palestinian narrative is part of Palestine’s political invisibilization (Qutami and Zahzah, 2020), how does writing contribute to a normalization of violence or a silencing of the populations studied? How can writing lead to the reproduction or contestation of power relationships? And how do these questions affect knowledge and writing practices?

Palestinian academics are themselves at the heart of the conflict (Bruhn, 2006; Jebril, 2023; Romani, 2016). The destruction of almost all the universities and the disappearance of the scientific community in the Gaza Strip is the most recent illustration of the ongoing educide carried out by Israel (Habash and Rabaia, 2024). What does it mean to do research in the Palestinian context when the producers of knowledge are directly targeted by repression and war? What does writing do in the face of destruction? What place should be given to Palestinian writing and/or Palestinian knowledge producers? What can other forms of writing (literary, curatorial, journalistic, etc.) contribute to academic writing in such a context? What spaces are there for discussing the directions and challenges of research in this context? This raises the question too of the nature of the researcher's relationship not only with their field and “respondents”, but also with the Palestinian academic world.

The aim is to consider the way in which these knowledge practices also reflect political issues that extend beyond academic environments and are used, received or reappropriated in wider society. How do these knowledge practices intervene in the conflict? In this context, what specific meanings does the act of writing take on? Are these same reflections marked by the specific context of the French political field? How is a researcher to position themselves within ongoing events, which have a temporality different from that of writing? How do the injunctions of public debate impact on writing? Contributions may address both methodological and thematic questions concerning the diversity of ways in which this knowledge is appropriated. They will consider how this knowledge is processed, reconfigured or given new meanings.

Calendar

Proposals for articles (4,000 characters maximum), along with a short biographical note, should be sent by 1 October 2024 to Taher Labadi t.labadi[at]ifporient.org and Najla Nakhlé-Cerruti najla.nakhle-cerruti[at]cnrs.fr.

Authors will be notified by the end of the following month.

Articles, written in French or English and with a maximum length of 45,000 characters, must be submitted by 1 March 2025 at the latest. For more information on the editorial rules and process, go to: https://journals.openedition.org/remmm/3004

The issue is scheduled for publication in early 2026.

Bibliographie

Bibliography

ABDALLAH, Chahrazad et YOUSFI, Héla, 2020, “Crisis Ethnography: Emotions and Identity in Fieldwork during the Tunisian Revolution”, in MIR, Raza et FAYARD, Anne-Laure (éds), The Routledge Companion to Anthropology and Business, New York/Londres, Routledge.

ABDELNOUR, Samer et ABU MOGHLI, Mai, 2021, “Researching violent contexts: A call for political reflexivity”, Organization, https://doi.org/10.1177/13505084211030.

AJARI, Norman, 2019, La Dignité ou la mort. Éthique et politique de la race, Paris, La Découverte.

AL-HARDAN, Anaheed, 2014, “Decolonizing Research on Palestinians: Towards Critical Epistemologies and Research Practices”, Qualitative Inquiry, 20 (1), 61–71.

BONTEMPS, Véronique et al., 2020, Penser la Palestine en réseaux, Marseille/Beyrouth, Diacritiques/IFPO.

ALDRIN, Philippe et al., 2022, L’enquête en danger. Vers un nouveau régime de surveillance dans les sciences sociales, Armand Colin.

ALSAJDEYA, Dima, CECCALDI, François et DABED Emilio, 2021, « Pouvoir(s) en Palestine », Confluences Méditerranée, 117, 29-48, https://www.cairn.info/revue-confluences-mediterranee-2021-2-page-29.htm ?ref =doi.

AMORUSO, Francesco, PAPPE, Ilan et RICHTER-DEVROE, Sophie, 2019, “Introduction: Knowledge, Power, and the ‘Settler Colonial Turn’ in Palestine Studies”, Interventions, 21 (4), 451-463.

AYIMPAM, Sylvie et BOUJOU, Jacky, 2015, « Objets tabous, sujets sensibles, lieux dangereux

BARAKAT, Rana, 2018, “Writing/righting Palestine Studies: Settler colonialism, indigenous sovereignty and resisting the ghost(s) of history”, Settler Colonial Studies, 8 (3), 349–363.

BIER, Jess, 2017, Mapping Israel, Mapping Palestine: How Occupied Landscapes Shape Scientific Knowledge. The MIT Press.

BOURDIEU, Pierre, 2001, Langage et pouvoir symbolique, Paris, Seuil, Points.

BOUMAZA, Magali et CAMPANA, Aurélie, 2007, « Enquêter en milieu « difficile ». Introduction », Revue française de science politique, 57 (1), 5-25.

BOURMAUD, Philippe, 2002, « Une approche des champs de production historique israélien et palestinien », Labyrinthe, 13, 111-127.

BRUHN, Christa, 2006, “Higher Education as Empowerment: The Case of Palestinian Universities”, American Behavioral Scientist, 49 (8), 1125-1142. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764205284722.

CALMELS, Christelle et al., 2024, Enquêter en terrain sensible. Risques et défis méthodologiques dans les études internationales, Paris, Villeneuve-d’Ascq, Presses universitaires du Septentrion.

COLLINS, John, 2011, Global Palestine, Londres, Hurst & Company.

EL-SAKKA, Abaher, 2022, “Re–thinking Conceptual Frameworks to Analyze the Palestinian Colonial Context”, Omran, 39 (10), 39–68.

FRANCE, Pierre, 2018, « Deux guerres lasses. “Champ faible”, formes de narrations et temps long dans l’écriture des guerres civiles en Syrie et au Liban », Revue internationale de politique comparée, 25 (1-2), 147-187.

GUIGNARD, Xavier et SEURAT, Seurat (dir.), 2020, Fragments palestiniens : pouvoir, territoire et société, REMMM, 147, https://doi.org/10.4000/remmm.12910.

HABASH, Lourdes et RABAIA, Ibrahim S.I, 2024, “The Hidden War on Higher Education: Unmasking the ‘Educide’ in Gaza”, POMEPS Studies, 51, 8-13.

HADJ-MOUSSA, Ratiba (dir.), 2019, Terrains difficiles, sujets sensibles. Faire de la recherche au Maghreb et sur le Moyen-Orient, Vulaines-sur-Seine, Éditions du croquant.

HANIEH, Adam, 2013, Lineages of Revolt: Issues of Contemporary Capitalism in the Middle East, Chicago, Haymarket Books.

HENNEQUIN, Emilie, CONDOMINES, Bérangère, 2022, « De la responsabilité sociale du chercheur à l’impossibilité de chercher ? L’impact des sujets sensibles », Management & Sciences Sociales, 33 (2), 134-153.

JEBRIL, Mona, 2023, “Between construction and destruction: the experience of educationalists at Gaza’s universities”, Compare : A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 53 (6), 986–1004, https://doi.org/10.1080/03057925.2021.1987190.

KAGAN, Michael, 2009, “The (Relative) Decline of Palestinian Exceptionalism and its Consequences for Refugee Studies in the Middle East”, Journal of Refugee Studies, 22 (4), 417–438, https://doi.org/10.1093/jrs/fep023.

LABADI, Taher, 2020, « Économie palestinienne : de quoi parle-t-on (encore) ? », Revue des mondes musulmans et de la Méditerranée, 147, https://doi.org/10.4000/remmm.14298.

LAMARCHE, Karine, 2015, « L’apport Heuristique d’une Implication Incontournable : L’exemple d’une Recherche Sur Un Terrain «  sensible  » (Israël-Palestine). », Civilisations, 64, 35-44.

LATTE ABDALLAH, Stéphanie et PARIZOT, Cédric (dir.), 2017, Israël/Palestine : L’illusion de la séparation, Aix-en-Provence, Presses universitaires de Provence.

LYNCH, Marc, 2024, “The Middle East and Middle East Studies after Gaza”, POMEPS Studies, 51, 3–7.

MASALHA, Nur, 2012, The Palestine Nakba: Decolonising history, Narrating the Subaltern, Reclaiming Memory, London, Zed Books.

MARZO, Pietro et GOMEZ-PEREZ, Muriel, 2020, « Faire du terrain au Moyen-Orient et en Afrique : stratégies d’approche et défis de positionnement du chercheur », Recherches qualitatives, 39 (1), 1–20.

MASSAD, Joseph, 2005, “Academic freedom and the teaching of Palestine-Israel: the Columbia case”, Journal of Palestine Studies, 34 (4), 75–107.

MASSICARD, Elise, 2002, « Être pris dans le mouvement : savoir et engagement sur le terrain », Cultures et Conflits, 47, 117-143.

MIGNOLO, Walter, 2013, « Géopolitique de la sensibilité et du savoir. (Dé)colonialité, pensée frontalière et désobéissance épistémologique », Mouvements, (73), p. 181-190.

NAKHLÉ-CERRUTI, Najla, 2020, « L’apport du fonds François Abou Salem à la connaissance des débuts de la pratique théâtrale palestinienne dans les années 1970 », Arabica, 67 (5-6), 611-629, https://doi.org/10.1163/15700585-12341560.

PICAUDOU, Nadine (dir.), 2006, Territoires palestiniens de mémoire, Paris-Beyrouth, Karthala-Ifpo.

QUTAMI, Loubna et ZAHZAH, Omar, 2020, « The War of Words: Language as an Instrument of Palestinian National Struggle », Arab Studies Quarterly, vol. 42, No. 1–2 (Winter/Spring 2020), pp. 66–90.

ROMANI, Vincent, 2007, « Enquêter dans les Territoires palestiniens. Comprendre un quotidien au-delà de la violence immédiate », Revue française de science politique, 57 (1), 27-45.

ROMANI, Vincent, 2016, Faire des sciences sociales en Palestine. Oppression militaire et mondialisation académique, Paris/Aix-en-Provence, Karthala/IREMAM.

ROY, Sara, 2012, “Reconceptualizing the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Key Paradigm Shifts”, Journal of Palestine Studies, 41 (3), 71-91.

SABBAGH-KHOURY, Areej, 2021, “Tracing Settler Colonialism: A Genealogy of a Paradigm in the Sociology of Knowledge Production in Israel”, Politics & Society, 44-83, https://doi.org/10.1177/0032329221999

SALAMANCA et al., 2012, “Past is Present: Settler Colonialism in Palestine”, Settler Colonial Studies, 2 (1), http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rset20/2/1

SFEIR, Jihane, 2014, « L’historiographie palestinienne entre histoire et mémoire », NAQD, 3 (2), 45-64.

SHWEIKI, Omar et TURNER, Mandy (eds.), 2014, Decolonizing Palestinian Political Economy: De-development and Beyond, New York, Palgrave Macmillan.

SLEIMAN, Hana, 2016, “The paper trail of a liberation movement” The Arab Studies Journal, 24 (1), 42–67.

SOREK, Tamir et GHANIM, Honaida, 2024, “Carving out a new intellectual space”, Palestine/Israel Review, 1, https://doi.org/10.5325/pir.1.1.0001

TABAR, Linda et al., 2015, Critical Readings of Development under Colonialism: Towards a Political Economy for Liberation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Ramallah, Rosa Luxemburg Foundation/Center for Development Studies.

VERACINI, Lorenzo, 2013, “The other shift: settler colonialism, Israel, and the occupation”, Journal of Palestine Studies, 42 (2), 26–42.

Haut de page
Search OpenEdition Search

You will be redirected to OpenEdition Search