Water, power, and refusal: confronting evasive accountability in a Palestinian village

Abstract

This article interprets the meanings and motivations of refusal to pay water bills within a context of fragmented sovereignty. Residents of a village in the occupied Palestinian West Bank call for solutions to water shortages and failed infrastructure, but do so amidst capricious power, where would‐be sovereigns evade accountability. Lacking avenues for direct engagement with authorities, residents speak in generalized ethical terms of their legitimate water claims, and they resort to bill refusal. Setting villagers’ bill refusals within the broader set of interactions between would‐be sovereigns and subjects, this article contributes to anthropological scholarship on refusal by demonstrating how it can be a way of not only dismantling state power, but also summoning a responsible sovereign. Furthermore, it highlights how common dilemmas faced by refusers – dismissal and co‐optation – can be exacerbated by the same evasive accountability against which they protest.

Unruly spaces, unsettling transformations: Nature connection, neoforaging, and unmediated encounters with others in Israel/Palestine

“…On the other hand, this very interest is often portrayed among scholars in terms of cultural appropriation and further exploitation. In the case of Palestinians, neoforager praxis may be viewed as Zionist settlers attempting to claim indigeneity at the expense of the Palestinian indigenous status and political struggle, which would deter many from the scene or trigger refusal (McKee, 2019). When direct encounters between neoforagers and foraging others occur, and even more so when they occur in unruly landscapes, foraging practices and wild nature seem to be effective connectors.…”

Occupation by other means

“…In writing about neoliberalism (Khalidi and Samour 2011;Rabie 2014;Clarno 2017;Haddad 2018) and donor politics (Hanafi and Tabar 2005;Allen 2013) in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Stamatopoulou-Robbins joins an important and growing body of literature-yet it is still rare to observe how Palestinians experience and navigate the multiplicity of forms of governance that they must negotiate (but cf. Feldman 2018;McKee 2019;Bishara et al 2020). The author shows "how multiple institutions and groups govern in the West Bank and beyond Israel.…”