We are more than statistics and scattered body parts : Telling stories and coalescing Palestinian history

Abstract

The fragmentation of Palestinian lives into exile, under occupation and within Israel has led to a complex interweaving of collective memory and individual memories in the attempt to come to terms with and represent this existence. Central to Palestinian self-understanding is the key interruptive event of the Nakba, the ethnic cleansing of Palestine in 1948 which disrupted the people?s links to the land of Palestine ? not only for Palestinians in exile but also for those within present-day Israel. Memorialization practices, such as those undertaken in village memorial books which record in detail the Palestinian villages destroyed in 1948, work to foster a collectivity linked across generations and borders. However these practices also repress marginalized voices, especially the voices, experiences and perspectives of women. By highlighting these voices, by engaging in collecting memories and by critically assessing the process of collective memorialization, the authors reviewed present a decentred, complex and kaleidoscopic version of Palestinian self-understanding and identity.