Nakba: Palestine, 1948, and the Claims of Memory

Cultures of History

by Ahmad H. Sa'di (Editor), Lila Abu-Lughod (Editor)

For outside observers, current events in Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank are seldom related to the collective memory of ordinary Palestinians. But for Palestinians themselves, the iniquities of the present are experienced as a continuous replay of the injustice of the past.



By focusing on memories of the Nakba or "catastrophe" of 1948, in which hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were dispossessed to create the state of Israel, the contributors to this volume illuminate the contemporary Palestinian experience and clarify the moral claims they make for justice and redress.

The book's essays consider the ways in which Palestinians have remembered and organized themselves around the Nakba, a central trauma that continues to be refracted through Palestinian personal and collective memory. Analyzing oral histories and written narratives, poetry and cinema, personal testimony and courtroom evidence, the authors show how the continuing experience of violence, displacement, and occupation have transformed the pre-Nakba past and the land of Palestine into symbols of what has been and continues to be lost.

Nakba brings to light the different ways in which Palestinians experienced and retain in memory the events of 1948. It is the first book to examine in detail how memories of Palestine's cataclysmic past are shaped by differences of class, gender, generation, and geographical location. In exploring the power of the past, the authors show the urgency of the question of memory for understanding the contested history of the present.

Contributors: Lila Abu Lughod, Columbia University; Diana Keown Allan, Harvard University; Haim Bresheeth, University of East London; Rochelle Davis, Georgetown University; Samera Esmeir, University of California, Berkeley; Isabelle Humphries, University of Surrey; Lena Jayyusi, Zayed University; Laleh Khalili, SOAS, University of London; Omar Al-Qattan, filmmaker; Ahmad H. Sa'di, Ben-Gurion University; Rosemary Sayigh, Lebanon-based anthropologist; Susan Slyomovics, University of California, Los Angeles

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Middle East, Politics, Essays, Anthropology, Historical

416 pages, Paperback

First published May 6, 2007

Reviews

[Jawa Youssouf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading is resistance.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Series of essays and articles about the Nakba (the catastrophe--the takeover of Palestine in 1948). It's a pretty intense book to read, but it's important that it is out there. The official version of the state doesn't usually take into account the voices of the people who were forced out of their villages, sometimes fleeing for fear, and sometimes fleeing atrocities. I've read another book by Lila Abu-Lughod, and I really enjoyed learning about her father, who fled Jaffa, and at the end of his life, returned to live in Isreal and work to create a museum of the Palestinian people. I also enjoyed the many authors who made an effort to focus on the experience of women from their perspective.

[Maha · Rating 3 out of 5]

الذاكرة هي كل ما تبقى لنا من فلسطين!.
قضية اللاجئين، بقيت للآن، أولئك الذين ظنوا ان الحرب سنتنهي بعد أيام، ولكنها لم تفعل، وعاشوا وماتوا وهم مجرد لاجئين، وقتلوا في المخيمات.!.
الكتاب موجع بحجم القصص المختلفة، وإختلاف الأوجاع والذكريات، والخوف من العصابات اليهودية ودخولها للبيوت وإقتحامها للقرى الفلسطينية!.
مثل هذا الكتاب ، وجد فقط ليذكرنا بنكبتنا التي لم ولن تنتهي :)

[Peyton · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The problem for Israelis is that manifestations of the Nakba surround them, in the history, the geography, the archaeology, the architecture, the language, and the Palestinians who remained. How can they be removed from consciousness?"

[Janice]

Nakba continues.

[Brittan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cannot say enough about this book. By examining Al Nakba "the catastrophe" through the memories of the people this collection of recollections examines a terrible event and tackles some major Israeli/world narratives of justification to get to the heart of the Palestinian people. If you are interested in Israeli and Palestinian history peace prospects you must read this book. This is the story that all Palestinians tell themselves. This is the story of a people devastated: a kind of Palestinian "Trail of Tears."

[Kimb · Rating 3 out of 5]

The topic is extremely interesting, but what they're trying to say gets bogged down unnecessary academic language.

Also, there should be more memories in a book analyzing memories influence on history.

[Natalie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love love love it. Anyone studying Palestine should read this. Not only is it new information, it is discussed in a new way.

[Meghan · Rating 5 out of 5]

incredibly informative

[Sasha Wolf · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book for my Master's in International Human Rights. It gave me a new insight into the emotional impact on Palestinians of the events of 1948.