Where is the political in cultural studies? In Palestine

Abstract

By drawing on scholarship that focuses on cinema and music, the author argues that the very act of ‘creating culture’ in the contemporary Palestinian period is a form of political resistance. Second, given political conditions of countering Zionist/Israeli erasures, the study of Palestinian culture is also a form of political resistance. The author argues that the resistance at the heart of the two ‘analytics’ of culture and cultural studies is imperative.

Representations of Palestinian Culture in the Digital Public Sphere: A Semiotic Analysis of the Thobe and the Keffiyeh

“…In the considerable body of literature that examines cultural resistance within the context of resisting colonization (Said, 1993), in which the Palestinian cultural struggle is guided by the need for visibility and for being heard (Tawil-Souri, 2011), the struggle is framed as a struggle between settlers and the indigenous people (Pappe, 2018). Meanwhile, this article affirms the diversity of themes employed in highlighting the national identity and national struggle when providing Palestinian representations.…”

“…Said’s position on cultural resistance and the occupied indigenous people’s need to narrate, is echoed by Tawil-Souri (2011) who considers culture creation in the Palestinian context as a form of political resistance. For her, Palestinian culture lies in efforts by witnesses and victims to vocalize the truth about the events that transpired in historic Palestine before and after 1948 when the Palestinian Nakba took place.…”

“…For her, Palestinian culture lies in efforts by witnesses and victims to vocalize the truth about the events that transpired in historic Palestine before and after 1948 when the Palestinian Nakba took place. Tawil-Souri (2011) further explains that the Palestinian cultural struggle is based on the need for visibility and being heard. Despite the systematic Israeli policies of silencing Palestinian voices and combating their narratives in all private and public arenas, including media, the Palestinians continued to reproduce their past through images and discourse.…”

“…While it is vital to understand communication technologies’ mediation of cultures via the media, it is also necessary to examine any given culture within its contexts that shape it (Tawil-Souri, 2011). To better examine people’s cultures and their contexts, it helps to look at individual representations of their cultural symbols as a form of cultural narrative.…”