Speaking Resistance: Sacred Sites, Religion, and Political Narratives in Palestinian Society

Degree Year

2025

Document Type

Thesis - Oberlin Community Only

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Anthropology

Advisor(s)

Baron Pineda

Committee Member(s)

Baron Pineda
Hiroko Kumaki
Kip Hutchins
Rachel Feldman

Keywords

Anthropology, Israel/Palestine, Religious studies, Sacred sites, Narratives, Politics

Abstract

Political narratives are a fact of everyday life for people across the globe, but they prove especially important for those living in precarious political situations, of which Israel-Palestine is a quintessential example. As such, Palestinian people, communities, and the nation as a whole engage with political narratives constantly, reacting to those that come from non-Palestinians and deploying their own as a way of directing conversations about their collective experience. Because of the fundamentally religious nature of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the ubiquity of holy places strewn across the land, such narratives often revolve around sacred sites, their histories, and their links to the people who now inhabit the region. By examining political narratives that anchor themselves in sacred sites, I argue that Palestinians engage in counter-narrative as a form of resistance and nation-building. Palestinian people combat narratives that deny their rights and their existence — be they American, Israeli, or otherwise — by deploying their own voices in opposition. Specifically, they assert their historical, religious, legal, and moral rights to the land on which they live and the sacred sites they hold dear. These narratives create a defense against ongoing occupation, dispossession, and inequality by inserting the Palestinian viewpoint into discussions of the past and the present, forcing the world to reckon with al-Qaḍīyyah al-Falasṭīniyyah — the “Palestinian question.”

This document is currently not available here.

Share

COinS