Imaging the homeland: representations of Palestine in Palestinian art and popular culture

The thesis examines the construction of Palestinian national identity via a study of the representation of the homeland. The thesis focuses specifically on the representations created by Palestinians of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Jerusalem. This Palestinian community, who continue to live on the land that was formerly Palestine, have created representations in the absence of their own official state apparatus and in the context in which representations of Palestinian identity met with harsh reprisals by the occupying authorities. This thesis contributes towards the study of national identity, for it reveals that nationalism is not an object in itself to be studied but is the outcome of the practices of social actors. The thesis explores the representation of the Palestinian homeland created by those who have experienced the land as the landscape of their every day lives under occupation, yet at the same time perceive the land as the future site of a Palestinian national homeland. It is the representations of these Palestinians who have experienced this paradox which is the focus of this thesis. In examining the representations of Palestinian national identity the thesis addresses the transformations the representation of the landscape has undergone as part of its incorporation into the national discourse. It specifically looks at the representation of the village and the peasantry as way towards understanding how Palestinians use elements of the past and from the landscape to image their national identity and the nation's past and future. Feelings of belonging and love for the homeland are explored in relation to the gendering of the homeland. While the final chapter examines what happens to the representation of the homeland, national identity and the role of art after a decline of a nationalist imperative and a period of heightened nationalism.