Abstract
Within the field of ‘transnational conflicts’ a wide range of studies have explored how diasporas may contribute to or diminish conflicts within their homeland by sending remittances or weapons or by partaking in NGOs. A common assumption in this literature is that conflicts are linked to a specific place of origin and that movement of conflicts or peace can be described as relations between homeland and diaspora. Based on 16 months of fieldwork among Palestinians in Denmark this paper challenges this assumption and offers a different conceptualization of conflicts on the move.
The Arabic term Nakba literally means catastrophe and usually refers to the Arab-Israeli war of 1948, when the state of Israel was declared and more than 700,000 Palestinians became stateless. Among Palestinians in Denmark, though, the concept of Nakba is used in two additional ways. Namely to embrace their everyday life in Denmark, and to single out specific contemporary political events like the publishing of the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, local clashes with the Danish police and the Israeli invasion of Gaza.
The ethnography discloses that the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is not a chronological phenomenon with a beginning and an end but, rather, a rhythm characterized by alternating intervals of long periods of ‘dead life’ in which time stands still and nothing seems to happen and hectic enlivening moments of upheaval connected to the latest political event. The paper concludes that the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is a plastic phenomenon that does not move in any causal linear way between homeland and diaspora but rather mutate and become new conflicts in accordance with new settings and times. This begs the following question: If conflicts do not move in causal ways but rather are rhythms then how do we solve them?
The Arabic term Nakba literally means catastrophe and usually refers to the Arab-Israeli war of 1948, when the state of Israel was declared and more than 700,000 Palestinians became stateless. Among Palestinians in Denmark, though, the concept of Nakba is used in two additional ways. Namely to embrace their everyday life in Denmark, and to single out specific contemporary political events like the publishing of the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, local clashes with the Danish police and the Israeli invasion of Gaza.
The ethnography discloses that the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is not a chronological phenomenon with a beginning and an end but, rather, a rhythm characterized by alternating intervals of long periods of ‘dead life’ in which time stands still and nothing seems to happen and hectic enlivening moments of upheaval connected to the latest political event. The paper concludes that the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is a plastic phenomenon that does not move in any causal linear way between homeland and diaspora but rather mutate and become new conflicts in accordance with new settings and times. This begs the following question: If conflicts do not move in causal ways but rather are rhythms then how do we solve them?
| Original language | English |
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| Publication date | 2012 |
| Publication status | Published - 2012 |
| Event | Revisiting Peace Studies - Diis Duration: 9 May 2012 → … |
Conference
| Conference | Revisiting Peace Studies |
|---|---|
| Location | Diis |
| Period | 09/05/2012 → … |