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Against Erasure: A Photographic Memory of Palestine Before the Nakba
A unique, stunning collection of images of Palestine in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and a testament to the vibrancy of Palestinian society prior to occupation.
This book tells the story, in both English and Arabic, of a land full of people—people with families, hopes, dreams, and a deep connection to their home—before Israel’s establishment in 1948, known to Palestinians as the Nakba, or “catastrophe.” Denying Palestinian existence has been a fundamental premise of Zionism, which has sought not only to hide this existence but also to erase its memory. But existence leaves traces, and the imprint of the Palestine that was remains, even in the absence of those expelled from their lands. It appears in the ruins of a village whose name no longer appears in the maps, in the drawing of a lost landscape, in the lyrics of a song, or in the photographs from a family album.
Co-edited by Teresa Aranguren and Sandra Barrilaro and featuring an introduction by Mohammed El-Kurd, the photographs in this book are traces of that existence that have not been erased. They are testament not to nostalgia, but to the power of resistance.
This book tells the story, in both English and Arabic, of a land full of people—people with families, hopes, dreams, and a deep connection to their home—before Israel’s establishment in 1948, known to Palestinians as the Nakba, or “catastrophe.” Denying Palestinian existence has been a fundamental premise of Zionism, which has sought not only to hide this existence but also to erase its memory. But existence leaves traces, and the imprint of the Palestine that was remains, even in the absence of those expelled from their lands. It appears in the ruins of a village whose name no longer appears in the maps, in the drawing of a lost landscape, in the lyrics of a song, or in the photographs from a family album.
Co-edited by Teresa Aranguren and Sandra Barrilaro and featuring an introduction by Mohammed El-Kurd, the photographs in this book are traces of that existence that have not been erased. They are testament not to nostalgia, but to the power of resistance.
215 pages, Hardcover
Published February 20, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
January 26, 2024
[5 stars] A curated collection of photographs depicting family, culture, architecture, and landscapes across Palestine prior to and just after the start of the Nakba in 1948. I had the option to get this in hardcover print as part of my Haymarket Book Club subscription, and I’m so glad I did. What a gift that these pictures have survived. The pictures are powerful, and range from the official and formal to the casual and everyday. I enjoyed the agricultural content and the moments of play and laughter, and was deeply moved by the photographic evidence of forced displacement and ethnic cleansing. While the photos are obviously the main draw, I also appreciated the brief essays on Palestinian history and curatorial process included in both Arabic and English. Highly recommended for everyone, especially readers who enjoy learning through art and those who value archival and preservation work in documenting history and humanity.
Publication Info: Haymarket (Feb 2024)
Goodreads 2024: 4/48 (read 1/21/24-1/23/24)
Nonfiction: about culture
Popsugar: nonfiction about Indigenous people
CN / TW: mentions of ethnic cleansing, forced displacement, and genocide
Publication Info: Haymarket (Feb 2024)
Goodreads 2024: 4/48 (read 1/21/24-1/23/24)
Nonfiction: about culture
Popsugar: nonfiction about Indigenous people
CN / TW: mentions of ethnic cleansing, forced displacement, and genocide
December 31, 2023
if this collection of essays & photographs doesn’t radicalise you, i don’t know what possibly might. seeing the silly smiles of palestinians captured on film at the beginning of the 20th century? unparalleled.
October 21, 2023
not sure how i'm supposed to go about reviewing this but, honestly, if you can get your hands on this (feb '24, or download an e-arc off edelweiss), or other photoessays (e.g. before their diaspora or the palestinians), you should
March 2, 2024
Beautiful photographs detailing a small snapshot of Palestine prior to the Nakba. I love learning about history via photography and art and this curated collection is wonderful. With the continued efforts to dehumanize and erase the culture and history of Palestinians, it’s as important to see and know the history as it is to bear witness and speak up now. Highly recommend to everyone.
July 3, 2025
“”The Palestine question is not just a problem of borders, but a problem of existence.” It is not that the Palestinian people exist, but that they existed, and they will continue to exist… dirty politics cannot bend the clean reality of that existence, nor can it ultimately deny or marginalise it. Existence is not a mask, nor can it be masked, and to deny existence is to deny life: it is a crime. A crime that persists without judge, jury, or sentence. This is what these photos recall and affirm.” - Pedro Martínez Montávez.
January 30, 2025
A beautiful collection of memories
And a promise.
And a promise.
May 3, 2024
Incredibly informative book that combines historical accounts of life and events leading up to the horrific and devastating Nakba in Palestine in 1948. The text itself is only about 20 pages so it makes for a very quick read. The joy on the faces of the Palestinian people in the photos is a reminder of their resilience.
July 3, 2024
Such a beautiful collection of Palestianian history.
"As long as the occupation continues to produce refugees, we must continue to remember. Because memories cannot be colonized or exiled and because there is power in evocation, for as Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish reminds us, we know the invaders' fear of memories." ❤️✨️
"As long as the occupation continues to produce refugees, we must continue to remember. Because memories cannot be colonized or exiled and because there is power in evocation, for as Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish reminds us, we know the invaders' fear of memories." ❤️✨️
March 1, 2024
4.5
The pictures are amazing. I just wish the captions were a bit better. Sometimes, the English and Arabic translations don't match.
The pictures are amazing. I just wish the captions were a bit better. Sometimes, the English and Arabic translations don't match.
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February 20, 2024disclaimer: I don’t really give starred reviews. I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not. Find me here: https://linktr.ee/bookishmillennial
It's not that the Palestinian people exist, but that they existed, and they will continue to exist. And that existence requires not only a home, but a homeland, a state: Palestine. Dirty politics cannot bend the clean reality of existence, nor can it ultimately deny or marginalize it. Existence is not a mask, nor can it be masked, and to deny existence is to deny life: it is a crime. A crime that persists without judge, jury or sentence. This is what these photos recall and affirm. - Pedro Martinez Montavez, Professor Emeritus, Autonomous University of Madrid
I received this as part of my Haymarket book club package for January 2024, and I am so grateful for this book as it makes a point to live up to its name and fight back against the narrative that Palestine was a "land without people" before the settler colonialists started to forcibly take land. It begins with acknowledgements, a short poem, the foreword to the 2024 edition, then moves to the foreword to the 2016 edition, and then three short essays on the history of Palestine (starting with the twelfth century BC when it was under Ottoman Empire rule), the Nakba (1947-1949), context for photography as historical text for reinforcing survival, and notes on the photographs which were chosen for this collection. The 418 Palestinian villages that were destroyed in the Nakba are also named before you get to the ~150 pages of photographs.
I am so incredibly humbled and moved after viewing these photos (they range from family portraits, to pictures at rallies, to a local soccer team), and I urge everyone to read this. I suggested these for purchase at a few of my local libraries and I hope that those copies can get into as many community hands as they can.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Death, Genocide, Violence, Colonisation, and Islamophobia
It's not that the Palestinian people exist, but that they existed, and they will continue to exist. And that existence requires not only a home, but a homeland, a state: Palestine. Dirty politics cannot bend the clean reality of existence, nor can it ultimately deny or marginalize it. Existence is not a mask, nor can it be masked, and to deny existence is to deny life: it is a crime. A crime that persists without judge, jury or sentence. This is what these photos recall and affirm. - Pedro Martinez Montavez, Professor Emeritus, Autonomous University of Madrid
I received this as part of my Haymarket book club package for January 2024, and I am so grateful for this book as it makes a point to live up to its name and fight back against the narrative that Palestine was a "land without people" before the settler colonialists started to forcibly take land. It begins with acknowledgements, a short poem, the foreword to the 2024 edition, then moves to the foreword to the 2016 edition, and then three short essays on the history of Palestine (starting with the twelfth century BC when it was under Ottoman Empire rule), the Nakba (1947-1949), context for photography as historical text for reinforcing survival, and notes on the photographs which were chosen for this collection. The 418 Palestinian villages that were destroyed in the Nakba are also named before you get to the ~150 pages of photographs.
I am so incredibly humbled and moved after viewing these photos (they range from family portraits, to pictures at rallies, to a local soccer team), and I urge everyone to read this. I suggested these for purchase at a few of my local libraries and I hope that those copies can get into as many community hands as they can.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Death, Genocide, Violence, Colonisation, and Islamophobia
July 23, 2024
The forward in this book offers further context to how beautiful Palestine came to be what it’s known as today; as well as life under British occupation, before one oppressor replaced another. Palestine was a beautifully rich land, lush with fruit and culture. My heart breaks that once again colonialism has destroyed sacred land. I’ll never forget what was done, and I’ll never forgive. My heart is forever with Palestine, and this book will be displayed in a prominent place in my home. I spoke the name of every village destroyed, many lost to history and to suffering, while people still deny the genocide enacted by false religious pretenses. Never again means never again for anyone. My heart breaks for you Palestine, and I will fight for you until you are free, even after my dying breath.
May 9, 2024
this book was both beautiful and heartbreaking — the epitome of life as a palestinian. commemorating palestine‘s history of a people with a rich culture and connection to their homeland is more important now than ever before. despite all attempts to erase our history, the palestinian people persist until they witness a free palestine🇵🇸
June 5, 2024
Moving, relevant, historically accurate
July 2, 2024
An incredible collection of photographs. So beautiful and so tragic.
August 25, 2024
A beautiful book about a people whose very existence is hanging by a thread. If everyone read this book and looked at the amazing photographs it would change the future for the Palestinians.
December 5, 2024
It's important to remember these things and these peoples. Even if it's difficult to wrap your head around it all. At the heart of everything, we are just people trying to live and love.
January 19, 2025
“… all I could think while flipping through these photographs was: What have they done to you? What have they done to Palestine?”
Photographic evidence that Mandate Palestine was not ‘a land without a people for a people without a land’. Archival images & context of paramount importance ❤️🩹
Photographic evidence that Mandate Palestine was not ‘a land without a people for a people without a land’. Archival images & context of paramount importance ❤️🩹
February 24, 2025
(H) Sad but sweet. People who say "Gaza was a Land Without a People" would be proven wrong.
August 10, 2025
Against Erasure: A Photographic Memory of Palestine Before the Nakba, Edited by Teresa Aranguren and Sandra Barrilaro, Foreword by Mohammed El-Kurd
This book is spectacular. I read the 2024 edition with the new forward by Mohammed El-Kurd, whose writing I always want to read. The book is on English and Arabic and I find it fascinating how they have laid out the photographs to be experienced from right to left and left to right. Stellar job. The real ones know that Palestine has existed for Centuries. And photography is proof of that existence. I treasured the writings at the beginning of the book and interspersed throughout.
This is my first book for #25for25
This book is spectacular. I read the 2024 edition with the new forward by Mohammed El-Kurd, whose writing I always want to read. The book is on English and Arabic and I find it fascinating how they have laid out the photographs to be experienced from right to left and left to right. Stellar job. The real ones know that Palestine has existed for Centuries. And photography is proof of that existence. I treasured the writings at the beginning of the book and interspersed throughout.
This is my first book for #25for25
January 14, 2025
A truly beautiful and heartbreaking collection. The normalcy seen in the pre-1948 pictures really underscores the human suffering that took place during and ever since the Nakba.
A very short read that I recommend to anyone wanting to humanize an atrocity too often confined to dispassionate facts and figures.
A very short read that I recommend to anyone wanting to humanize an atrocity too often confined to dispassionate facts and figures.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews