Is being Palestinian a 'pain in the neck', or a 'sentence to suffer gladly'? Does Palestinian identity reside in cross-stitch embroidery, sweet knafeh and the poetry of Mahmoud Darwish, or defending the rights of oppressed communities around the world? How does it feel when you cannot find Palestine under 'P' in the encyclopedia? Why grow fig and orange trees in the Arizona desert? What does it mean to know every inch of a village that no longer exists?
In this ground-breaking volume, 102 contributors now living in the UK and North America reflect in their own words on what it means to be Palestinian in the diaspora - exploring how Palestine is both lost and found, bereaved and celebrated, and taking the reader on an intimate journey through the tangled ties between 'home' and 'homeland'. Men and women, young and old, Christians and Muslims, Palestinians from different generations and a variety of professional backgrounds (business people, lawyers, judges, fiction writers, poets, journalists, film-makers, diplomats and academics) offer contributions.
Touching, often troubling, but full of character and wit, the reflections in Being Palestinian offer a radically fresh look at the modern Palestinian experience in the West. And the time-honoured issues of identity, exile and diaspora give acute sense to these very personal reflections.
Year: 2016
Paperback
