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The article focuses on the complex positioning of people from disempowered backgrounds with respect to liberalism and liberal dividends. The author offers the term liberal bargain, paraphrasing Deniz Kandiyoti’s “patriarchal bargain” and Cynthia Cockburn’s “ethnic bargain,” and dwells on the interconnections between the three. The liberal bargain indicates the particular consciousness and symbolic whitening that “colorized” (i.e., excluded/oppressed) people tend to adopt when they attempt to cash in on the liberal promise. Within the discourse of postcolonial feminism, the concept is intended to promote the discussion of power differentials among women, through refining the analytically dissatisfactory color metaphors habitually used to address issues of hegemony and ethnocentrism.

This paper takes issue with a certain inconsistency in the collective portrait of Palestinian women citizens of Israel, as it is depicted in the feminist literature which emphasizes, simultaneously, multiple forms of oppression and impressive resisting capacities, but does not give sufficient explanation of how these two seemingly contradictory aspects interrelate. I argue, using ethnographic data, that more attention than that paid so far should be given to structural tensions between the various regimes that compose the Israeli-Palestinian gender order, notably the family, the state, and the national/ethnic communities. While the shared patriarchal nature of these regimes produces powerful experiences of omnipresent and naturalized oppression, competition among them allows women some very important latitude. My emphasis on the contradictory location of Palestinian women in Israel is intended to place their agency in finer perspective, through elaborating the structural setting within which it is made possible.

BackgroundPersons with disabilities (PWD) are one of the most marginalized groups in Western societies. These inequalities are manifested through various disadvantages in the psychosocial, cultural, and economic domains. Inspired by the World Health Organization's holistic conceptualization of disability, the present study examines the relation between the body and personhood in Israeli culture, through cases of newly diagnosed adults with disability.MethodParticipant observation at a rehabilitation daycare center was carried out for a period of two years. The analysis is based on field notes recorded during these observations, including interviews with individuals with disabilities, their family members, and service providers.ResultsThe analysis reveals the agonizing experience of individuals who have become disabled in adulthood, who undergo symbolic diminution and social exclusion after their former acceptance as whole and normative persons. This ongoing multifaceted process includes infantilization, denial of their sexuality/sensuality, transgression of gender boundaries, and their construction as categorically different from the "healthy" people around them. At the same time, the analysis also demonstrates the ways in which daily routine at the daycare center also complicates the normative healthy-disabled binary, indicating a continuum on which attendees may attempt to reposition themselves.ConclusionsThis paper aims to make a dual contribution. We draw on anthropological understandings of“person” as a holistic category to resurrect the personhood of individuals with disabilities, as a correction tothe overwhelming tendency to reduce their humanity to their physical injury. We likewise reverse theanalytical gaze by using these individuals' experiences to understand the normative, culture-bound perception of “healthy” persons. We thus highlight Israeli culture's conditioning of normative personhood on having a perfect body, and its concomitant construction of individuals with physical disabilities as lesser persons. By opting to bring back the person into the disabled body, we aim to facilitate a less stigmatized outlook on disability and to create an opportunity for caregivers, researchers, and healthcare professionals to view disabled persons as whole and complex human beings.

This article explores a particular discourse on women's power among Palestinians inside Israel. I present ethnographic documentation of resourceful women who are commonly referred to as qawiyyi (strong), and offer the term "feminine strength" to talk about what I see as a normative script for "proper"handling of femininity and power. I argue that feminine strength encourages women to channel their achievements back to the home, and discourages them from vying with men over public status and official prestige. Personal strength that is amenable to transformation into public, political status is primarily a male prerogative and I therefore call this type "masculine power." However, dwelling on the gap between official and embodied representations reveals a range of creative negotiations that make the local articulations of gender and power more complex than they may seem. Looking at the broader context in which femininities and masculinities are produced, I show that "feminine strength" vividly echoes some of the major concerns of Israeli Palestinians generally, notably their preoccupation with modernity, cultural morality, and collective identity. By walking a fine line between conflicting demands and possibilities, women who are called qawiyyi embody the ongoing attempts of their community to uphold a moral existence, while balancing formidable constraints and new opportunities.