Notes Introduction 1 . For historical records of British colonial mandate in Palestine (1922– 1948), see Al-Aref (1959), Azoulay (2011), Khalidi (1984, 1988: 4–19 and 1992), Fischbach (2003), and Gilbert ([1974] 2005). For a complete list of Palestinian destroyed villages, see Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center ’s visual tribute of the fiftieth anniversary of al-Nakba in 1998 ( http:// www.alNakba.org/villages/villages.htm ). Also, for relevant studies on demographic changes in historic Palestine before and after al-Nakba , see Abu-Lughod (1971 and 1982) and Krystall (1988: 5–22). Krystal’s article describes the depopulation of Palestinian neighborhoods of West Jerusalem in 1947. 2. The “Right of Return” is an internationally recognized designation in United Nations’ resolution number 194 of December 11, 1948. This reso- lution stipulates that Palestinian refugees should be permitted the return to their homes from which they were previously expelled. This right, moreover, represents a key demand of the Palestinians for any settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and has been repeatedly rejected by Israel. 3 . Of the many recent publications on cultural memory, Assmann (2006: 261–73) and Erll and Rigney (2009) are good starting points. Also, on the relationship between cultural memory and the symbols of the nation state, see Nora (1989: 7–25) and Huyssen (1995 and 2003). Huyssen’s perspective is critical of fetishism with old things. For concise discussions of cultural memory in the context of conflicted discourses of memory, see Bardenstein (1999: 148–71) and Bal (1999b: vii-3). 4 . For excellent theoretical explication of this Zionist metanarrative, see John Rose (2004: 1–8). Rose’s study refutes Zionism’s mythical his- tory. Also, for relevant critiques on the Zionist project in Palestine, see Hertzberg ([1976] 1997), Garfinkle (1991: 539-50), Palumbo (1990 and 1991), Said (1992), Shapira (1999), and Masalha (1992, 2003, and 2005). Moreover, a useful contribution on Israel’s physical transformation of the 220 ● Notes landscape of Palestine by carving it into an image of its Zionist ideal is Mitchell (1994: 5–34). According to Mitchell, the face of the holy land- scape is so scarred by war, excavation, and displacement that no illusion of innocent original nature can be sustained for a moment. For the term “subaltern,” see Spivak (1988b: 271–313, 1996a, and 1996b: 198–222). Spivak uses this term in her description of the circumstances surrounding the suicide of a young Bengali woman that indicates a failed attempt at self-representation. Spivak concludes that “the subaltern cannot speak,” not in the sense that the subaltern does not cry out in various ways, but that speaking is a transaction between speaker and listener. Subaltern talk, in other words, does not achieve the dialogic level of utterance. 5 . These arguments are further developed in Finkelstein (2005). See also Novick (2001) for his seminal study on the “Holocaust industry.” My use of the term “ethnic cleansing” follows Ilan Pappe’s use to describe the Palestinian condition. In his book, The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine (2006), Pappe demonstrates conclusively that the Zionist concept of “transfer”—a euphemism for ethnic cleansing—was from the start an integral part of a carefully planned colonial strategy, and lies at the root of today’s ongoing conflict in the Middle East. For Pappe, the ethnic cleansing of Palestine is represented most clearly in Israel’s persistent attempts to wipe out the Palestinian heritage and cultural identity since 1948. For a recent study on genocide and conditions for a deterioration of Palestinian-Israeli conflict from chronic to catastrophic violence, see Dayan (2008). 6 . For an excellent study on the long history of Palestinian national con- sciousness and identity, see Khalidi (1997). For relevant studies that examines versions of Palestinian and Zionist historical narratives in con- temporary context of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, see Lockman (1996), Sa’di (2002: 175-98), Stein and Swedenburg (2005), and Rotberg (2006). 7 . For relevant discussions on practices of Palestinian traditional storytell- ing of al-Nakba , see Muhawi (1999: 344–48) and Sayigh (1998: 42–59). 8. Barthes’ text is cited as the epigraph of James Clifford’s introduction in Writing Culture (1986: 1-27). 9 . For additional discussions on the theoretical premises of cultural analy- sis, see Wuthnow (1984) and Bal (2002). Moreover, for a recent and valu- able example of the methodology of cultural analysis in contemporary expressions of popular culture, see Peeren (2007). 10 . For relevant discussion of the notion of “theoretical object” in contempo- rary art practices, see Van Alphen (2005). 1 Nostalgic Memory and Palestinian Identification 1 . These lines are taken from Mahmoud Darwish’s poem, entitled “Edward Said: A Contrapuntal Reading” (2004), in which he bids farewell to Notes ● 221 Edward Said. Darwish (1942–2008) has long been recognized as the leading poetic voice of the exiled Palestinian people. For more of his translated poetry, see Darwish (1995, 2003, and 2006) Also, for studies exclusively focused on Darwish’s life and poetry, see Mansson (2003). 2 . Sayigh (1977: 17–40 and 1979: 3–16). Also, for relevant studies concerning Palestinians in refugee camps in Lebanon, see Peteet (1987: 29–63 and 1992). 3 . The medical significations of nostalgia were first coined in 1688 by the Swiss physician Johannes Hofer in his dissertation on the homesickness of Swiss mercenaries away from their homeland. See Hofer ([1688] 1934), cited in Hutcheon (2000: 198–207). For prominent studies on nostalgia as a modern cultural disease, see Stewart (1984) and Boym (1995: 133–66 and 2001). In her research Boym conceptualizes “reflective nostalgia” in the case of post-Soviet artists who, according to Boym, “reconfigure and preserve various kinds of imagined communities and offer interesting cultural hybrids of Soviet kitsch and memories of a totalitarian child- hood” (1995: 151). 4 . As a derogatory concept, nostalgia is often criticized as a symptom of erratic cultural stress due to sociopolitical complexities and rapid changes. Examples of such criticism of nostalgia include, among others, Davis (1979), Chase and Shaw (1989), and Lowenthal (1985). 5 . My use of the term nostalgic is based on Verhoeff’s conceptualization of the term instant nostalgia . See Verhoeff (2006: 148–56). 6 . Various examples of literary representations written by Palestinians from the first generation of post- Nakba such as Abd Al Kareem Al Karmy’s (b.1907–1980) poetry have been collected in Salma Jayyusi’s Anthology of Modern Palestinian Literature (1992). Also, more examples of Palestinian literature are available in Kanaana (1992) and Neuwirth (2010). 7 . I use the term “acts of memory” here to refer to the active nature of col- lective memory in Palestinian exile. For useful studies on this notion, see Bardenstein (1999: 148–71 and 2002: 353–87), Van Alphen (1999b: 151-71), and Bal (1999b: vii-3). 8 . In his article, Van Alphen draws on feminist critiques and psychoana- lytical experience and theories of cultural memory such as those by De Lauretis (1984), Williams (1983), Nora (1989: 7–25), Caruth (1996), LaCapra (1994), and Scott (1992: 126–29). 9. This discursive notion of trauma is further developed in Van Alphen (1997 and 2005: 163–205) 10 . All quotes from the novel are taken from the English version, The Ship (1985). Of course, I also consulted the original Arabic version of the novel, Jabra (1970), to verify the translation. 11 . For an extensive discussion of the plot in The Ship as a “murder story,” see Hamarneh (1991: 223–39). 12 . For further discussion on time techniques in Jabra’s literary project, see also Allen (1995: 14–16). 222 ● Notes 1 3 . S e e H a m o n ( 1 9 8 1 ) . 14 . Iraq was the first Arab country to gain independence from British rule in 1932. 15 . It is worth mentioning here that Arab societies’ transformation from being colonized into independent societies is still continuing up till today as most of the cultural and political issues such as tribal revenge, democ- ratization, and political defeat remain utterly unsolved. 1 6 . I n h i s r e a d i n g o f The Ship, Hamarneh makes this observation about the abundance of Wadi’s narration. See Hamarneh (1991: 228). 17. In her study on Palestinian art, Ankori argues that in the context of al- Nakba Zionist and anti-Palestinian propaganda often deliberately mis- represented the feelings of humiliation of first-generations of post-Nakba Palestinians as a sign of their unwillingness to defend their homes or of their sheer cowardice; a misreading that Ankori rejects and instead duti- fully analyzes the ways in which Palestinians fended off this propaganda in cultural media, especially visual aesthetics. See Ankori (2006: 51–52). 18 . For the term “native,” see Geertz (1983: 55–73). According to Geertz, the problem of understanding things from the point of view of the native has been exercising methodological discussion in anthropological under- standing. Geertz argues for an interpretation that relies on a “thick description” of cultural acts by which the meanings behind the actions as well as their symbolic imports in a specific cultural setting are exposed. For another relevant anthropological study that focuses on temporal dis- cripency, see Fabian (1983). 2 Traveling Theory: On the Balconies of Our Houses in Exile 1 . I use the term “repeated reenactments” in a performative sense as a pro- cess of repeated acts through which the subject creates his or her identity. For a very useful discussion on performative effects of repeated reenact- ments, see Butler (1993: 9–32). 2 . Often following Deleuze and Guattari (1994), the amount of litera- ture available on these notions in contemporary critical theory is mas- sive. Among innumerable examples, see Bhabha (1990: 291–322, 1991: 61–63, 1994 and 1996: 53–60), Rushdie (1981), Spivak (1988a, 1996a and 1996b: 198–222), Clifford (1988 and 1997), Ashcroft (1995), and Chambers (1990 and 1994).