University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 1-1-1997 Between daya and doctor : a history of the impact of modern nation-state building on health east and west of the Jordan river. Elise G. Young University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1 Recommended Citation Young, Elise G., "Between daya and doctor : a history of the impact of modern nation-state building on health east and west of the Jordan river." (1997). Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014. 1252. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1/1252 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. BETWEEN DAYA AND DOCTOR; A HISTORY OF THE IMPACT OF MODERN NAT I ON- STATE BUILDING ON HEALTH EAST AND WEST OF THE JORDAN RIVER A Dissertation Presented by ELISE G. YOUNG Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts Amherst in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY September 1997 History Department @ Copyright by Elise G. Young 1997 All Rights Reserved BETWEEN DAYA AND DOCTOR: A HISTORY OF THE IMPACT OF MODERN NATION-STATE BUILDING ON HEALTH EAST AND WEST OF THE JORDAN RIVER A Dissertation Presented by ELISE G. YOUNG Approved as to style and content by Yt^-onne Y. H Mary (St. Wi 1 son , Member J^cS A. Berkman , MemberMe anice G. Raymond, Member Mary Wilson, Department Head Department of History ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank the American Center for Oriental Research (ACOR) for a research grant in Amman, Jordan, 1995. Special thanks to all of the staff at ACOR. I am indebted to Yumna Abu-Hassan Alami, Hala Hani Abu- Hijeh, Halla Salem, Salwa Naj jab-Ghatib, Rita Giacaman, Ruth Tell, Raeda Al Zuabi , Firas Daraiseh, Umm Mohammed, Dr. Zeid Hamzeh, Manal Hamzeh, Ruba Kana'an, Hajj Anisa Shokar, Dr. Kamal Salibi, Khitam, Ida, Umm Ramsey, women of Jabal al-Hussein and Baq'a refugee camps, and the Jordanian Women's Union, Amman, Jordan, for providing me with the opportunity to conduct my research and for sharing their wisdom. I gratefully acknowledge Dr. Mary C. Wilson, Dr. Yvonne Y. Haddad, Dr. Janice G. Raymond, Dr. Joyce Berkman, for guidance and support throughout the years of this project, and without whom this work could not have been completed. Special thanks to Chaya Shalom, Margaret Holt, Janet Heindal, Dr. Elaine Hagopian, Joe Forbes, Jenine Mailand, Shanta Rao, Dianne Johnson, Anita Weigel, Michael Holroyde, Arkie and George Markham, Dr. Meyer Weinberg, Dr. Karen Pfeifer, Dr. Leila Ahmed, Dr. Ahmad Dallal, Dr. Max Pepper, and especially Maurice and Sylvia Young, Dr. Enid B. Young, Dr. Ilene T. Lipari, for their continuing support and inspiration throughout the years during which this dissertation was conceived and carried out. ABSTRACT BETWEEN DAYA AND DOCTOR; A HISTORY OF THE IMPACT OF MODERN NATION-STATE BUILDING ON HEALTH EAST AND WEST OF THE JORDAN RIVER SEPTEMBER 1997 DR. ELISE G. YOUNG, B.A. SARAH LAWRENCE COLLEGE M.A. COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by Professor Yvonne Y. Haddad This dissertation is a historical analysis of politics of state building and health in Palestine and in Jordan. The study contributes to contextual studies of constructions of gender and health as a central aspect of modern nation-state building in the twentieth century. Processes of modern state building in the region of Bilad al Sham brought about significant transformations in definitions of health, development of health care systems, and medical practices. The study examines three aspects of these changes. First is a gender analysis of ways in which science and medicine contributed to colonialist processes of state building. Second is an exploration of particular effects of war, displacement and expulsion, and changing socioeconomic political conditions, on Palestinian women's health. V , . Third, the study looks at the significance for Palestinian women healers, midwives, and others, of changes introduced in the health system by the British in Palestine and in Transjordan and by UNRWA in refugee camps in Jordan. A study of women and health requires a shift in dominant historiographical approaches. This dissertation develops an analytic framework that takes as its starting point questions raised by feminist epistemology . In the period addressed, the struggle for control of health systems is also a struggle for control of knowledge making , Aspects of thi s struggle disadvantage and inval idate knowledge bases of women healers. A central question of the study is: how do specific Palestinian refugee women construct meaning and authorize knowledge? This dissertation examines the particular relationship of Palestinian women to historical processes of war , ci t i zenship in the modern nation- state refugee status , rel ief efforts , and development processes In addition to archival research, findings are based on oral histories with Palestinian women refugees in Jordan in order to understand how they interpret history and construct health. Findings show that Palestinian women represented in this study construct health as a socio-political phenomenon, rather than in purely biological terms, and that health is a metaphor for homecoming. vi Health concerns are central to Palestinian women's resistance: nationalist struggle is a historical reality informing their struggle for self definition, a struggle central to defining health. Oral histories represented in this study clarify the need to address Palestinian women's health in the context of gender, race, class politics dominating the region. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS iv ABSTRACT V Chapter 1 . INTRODUCTION 1 Approach and Methodology : "Knowledge" in the Era of the Modern Nation-state 6 Feminist Epistemology and Modernization Theory: Transmission of Knowledges 20 Epistemology and Oral History Methodology 24 Feminist Theory and Middle East Studies 31 State of the Field: Research on Jordan 39 Chapter Outline 42 2. IMPERIALISM AND HEALTH: POLITICAL IMPLICATIONS OF MALARIA ERADICATION CAMPAIGNS IN PALESTINE AND TRANSJORDAN, 1919-1939 50 An Imperial Pursuit: Malaria Eradication and Land Reclamation 50 Race, Gender, Class Politics of Malaria Eradication 54 The Political Economy of Health and Rehabilitation 60 Mighty Reactions and Anti-Malaria Measures: A Testing Ground 70 Long Term Effects "^^ Conclusion 3. BETWEEN DAYA AND DOCTOR: A FORMIDABLE ABYSS? 91 Dangerous Hags and Sanitized Hovels: Midwifery and Modernity 94 Reorganization/Regulation/Specialization 101 A Formidable Journey: Midwives in Refugee Camps in Jordan 118 Conclusion 131 4. *THE CAMP OF RETURN'- HEALTH AND PALESTINIAN WOMEN REFUGEES IN JORDAN, 1950-1995 142 Refugee or Freedom Fighter? Identity Politics and Health in Exile 145 The Political Economy of Refugee Health 159 Women Talk About Health: Al-Ghurbah- The Disaster 168 From Jabal al-Hussein Camp to the Ministry: Poverty/Reproductive Health/Resistance 176 Conclusion 192 BIBLIOGRAPHY 203 . CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Traveling from Amman to Ajloun and north into the mountains at the start of the Eid, March 2, 1995, I was treated to a blaze of color. The mountainside was covered with red poppies as far as the eye could see. The air was sweet smelling, the sun high; a perfect day for hiking and picnicking away from the fumes and chaos of city traffic. I had been in Jordan for a month; this was my first trip outside of the capital. Three days later I lay on a stretcher at Palestine Hospital, feverish, and barely able to walk. I had succumbed to a respiratory infection that regularly plagues Amman's inhabitants. I was expecting this, given the stress of international travel , new living conditions, new foods Furthermore, I had been warned that such infections result from constant exposure to dust from the stone buildings typical of this region. 1 had arrived in Jordan prepared with a suitcase of Chinese herbs and homeopathic remedies, but that day I was grateful for the instant relief of antibiotics imported from France. Several nights later, one of my Jordanian friends arrived at my room with an herb her grandmother used for again. curing respiratory conditions. When I was on my feet • . 2 my Arabic instructor treated me to thyme she kept in her freezer. All of the women I met here used plant cures regularly, along with, if they had health insurance or the money to pay for them, allopathic medicines such as antibiotics, either from private doctors, or dispensed through cl inics But, as 1 would later discover, use of plant cures in Jordan is not without complex dimensions . For example , the state discourages use of herbs in refugee camps. In the twentieth century, changes in medical practices accompanying colonialism and nation-state building had an impact on both the availability of herbal medicines and on the population's use of age old heal ing methods This study is an historical analysis of pol itics of state building and health in Palestine and in Jordan. Processes of modern state building in the region of Bilad al-Sham (in Arabic, land of the sun, referring to the region transformations of Greater Syria ) brought about signi f icant in definitions of health, development of health care systems, and medical practices. I examine three aspects of these changes in the course of this study. First is a gender analysis of ways in which science and medicine in the twentieth century contribute to colonialist processes of state building in the regions addressed. Second, I discuss specific conseguences of state building in the region, through military occupation, war, displacement and , 3 expulsion, changing socio-economic-political conditions, and changing mores, on women's health.