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Circulating texts: Challenging Zionist Myths Through Narratives of Creative Palestinian Resistance and Solidarity by Madalena Santos A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology Carleton University Ottawa, Ontario ©2015 Madalena Samtos | ii Abstract Through (re)presentations in news media, art, pop culture as well as educational and other institutional contexts in addition to our own personal storytelling, stories shape how we make sense of our lives and what matters to us. Dominant stories of the imagined nation are told and retold often without question. But narratives which counter hegemonic storytelling also exist and continue to be passed on. Despite attempts at erasure and silencing in mainstream accounts and historiographies, contesting narratives which challenge oppressive ruling relations carry on. In this paper, I consider how narratives that expose and oppose dominant settler colonial myths are practices of creative resistance. Echoing Barbara Harlow (1987:7), I posit creative resistance not in opposition to, but alongside other forms of resistance such as armed struggle. Through this study, I theorize the concept of creative resistance against the logics and materiality of settler colonialism to examine three modes of narrative performance as political practice in the work of Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA)-Carleton as part of the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, Rafeef Ziadah’s spoken word, and performances by the Freedom Theatre project in Jenin, Palestine. In exploring the stories of these creative projects, this study conceives of narratives as sites of struggle that are significant in the telling of history and therefore crucial to resistance. | iii Acknowledgements I would like to dedicate this work to all people who struggle for liberation against violence, to the Palestinian families and friends I met while in Palestine, Lebanon, and Jordan who welcomed me into their homes and hearts, and to the Algonquin peoples on whose land I currently live on Turtle Island. I would like to thank all the people who have supported me throughout the writing of this project. In particular, I would like to thank my supervisor Dr. Nahla Abdo for her encouragement and commitment to writing on Palestine, even when in the most difficult of circumstances, which has been a constant inspiration to me. I would also like to thank my committee members: Dr. Augustine Park and Dr. Janet Siltanen. Augustine has been a mentor for me throughout the completion of my Phd and has helped guide me through the most challenging parts of the writing process. Janet has provided me kind and thoughtful advice and offered me with opportunities to learn through her engaging teaching methods. Additionally, I would like to thank Dr. Peter Gose for his supervision during the earlier stages of my Phd. I would also like to thank my dear family and friends for their unwavering support and love. Especialmente, obrigado à minha mãe e ao meu pai: Ana Fonseca e José Santos (17 Sept. 2014). Sinto muito a sua falta pai. | iv Table of Contents Chapter 1 Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Overview of Project ................................................................................................3 1.2 Research Questions and Data..................................................................................4 1.2.2 Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA)-Carleton...................................7 1.2.3 Spoken Word................................................................................................8 1.2.4 The Freedom Theatre..................................................................................9 1.3 Theorizing Counter Hegemonic Narratives in Present History 1.4 Notes on Research Methods and Approach.................................................................13 1.4.1 Mapping Relations of Power and Practicing Solidarity...............................14 1.4.2 Conducting a Multi-sited Ethnography of Narratives .................................17 1.4.3 Conceptual and Theoretical Approach.........................................................18 1.5 Contribution................................................................................................................24 1.6 Organization of Chapters ..........................................................................................26 Chapter 2 On Creative Resistance and the Permission to Narrate........................................30 2.1 Creative Resistance: A Working Definition................................................................33 2.2 Approaches to Studying Resistance ............................................................................36 2.3 Social Memory and the Transformation of Public Discourses ...................................43 2.4 Permission to Narrate: Radical Performance as a Tactic of Creative Resistance.....................................................................................47 2.5 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................50 Chapter 3 Solidarity in discourse and practice........................................................................51 3.1 Overview of Chapter....................................................................................................54 3.2 Review of the Literature .............................................................................................56 3.2.1 A Model for Solidarity..................................................................................58 3.2.2 The discourse of the social: On dichotomies and knowledge production...64 3.3 Connecting Solidarity and Resistance: Academia, Activism, and Reflexivity.............68 3.4 Conclusion...................................................................................................................73 Chapter 4 What’s in a name? SAIA and the Challenge of the Apartheid Analysis.............77 4.1 Knowledge (Re)production and Practice: An Ethnographic Approach to Narrating Palestinian Solidarity and Resistance ...........82 4.2 Tracing Palestinian Boycott Divestment and Sanctions Strategies: From pre-Nakba Praxis to Contemporary Transnational BDS ....................................................................85 4.3 Students Against Israeli Apartheid-Carleton: The Who, What, How, and Why..........89 4.4 What’s In a Name? The Apartheid Analysis ...............................................................93 4.5 Who Decides What is Permissible? On the Limits of ‘Civil Discourse’......................97 4.6 Beyond Reproach: Banning SAIA’s IAW Poster and the Exceptionalism of the Israeli State............................................................................................................103 4.6.1 The Ontario Human Rights Tribunal..........................................................111 4.6.2 Silencing in the Academy: The Zionist Lobby ............................................113 Conclusion 4.7.................................................................................................................115 | v Chapter 5 Israeli Apartheid Week 2009: Contestations of Zionist Myths..........................119 5.1 Beyond Discursive Transgression: The Transformational Potential of IAW..........119 5.2 Bodies that Matter in Settler Colonial States: Some of Us are More Equal than Others...............................................................................................................................142 5.3 Limitations and Possibilities for Creative Solidarity: IAW and the Challenge to Israel’s Impunity.............................................................................................................146 5.4 Conclusion: Narrating Boldly from the Exit...........................................................148 Chapter 6 Palestinian narratives of resistance against colonization and memoricide.......151 6.1 A way forward: Aims of the chapter..........................................................................153 6.2 Conceptualising Creative Resistance .......................................................................157 6.3 The Spoken Word of Rafeef Ziadah...........................................................................159 6.4 The Freedom Theatre.................................................................................................175 6.4.1 The History of the Freedom Theatre...........................................................178 6.4.2 Setbacks and Challenges............................................................................180 6.4.3 Performances..............................................................................................184 6.4.4 The Freedom Bus........................................................................................191 6.5 Conclusion ................................................................................................................193 Chapter 7 Conclusion...............................................................................................................195 List of Illustrations Figure 1: First International Israeli Apartheid Poster by Carlos Latuff banned by Carleton University 2009.................................................................................................