Domesticating Palestinians in the West Bank, the exemplar of Salfit governorate. Eco-Politics of Settler colonialism, Development and the Palestinian Space
The proposed research uses the concept of 'slow violence ' in a Palestinian village to explore the role of 'nature ' as a fundamental dimension of Israeli settlers ' colonial paradigm. Slow violence is violence that manifests gradually and often invisibly, in contrast to spectacular violence that garners media and political attention. The research explores and maps out the structure of slow violence, in the Palestinian political environment where the development models of the Palestinian National Authority and the settler colonial enterprise unfold in a neo-liberalizing world. The research thus addresses a significant scholarly gap as attention has focused almost exclusively on direct violence as a spectacle, This overlooks the centrality of 'nature ' in settler colonial discourse and practice : the unleashing of wild boars, the uprooting of olive trees, the relocation of Israeli industries deemed toxic from Israel proper to the heart of the West Bank, the dumping of settlements' wastes onto Palestinian village-all these practices transform the meanings of 'security ' and 'sustainability ' , as well as the link between the two, and reinforce notions of Patriarchal development. Through interviews and participant observation, this research will explore the stories of Palestinian villagers and analyze them in the larger context of activism and resistance in Palestine and abroad.
Supervisor: Kenny Cupers
Co-Supervisor: to be determined
Saad Amira
Departement Gesellschaftswissenschaften
Spalenvorstadt 2
4051 Basel
Schweiz