Sumud, the Arabic word for “steadfastness,” is an essential characteristic of Palestinian resistance to the Israeli occupation and an inevitable attribute of Palestinian daily life. Sumud: Birth, Oral History, and Persisting in Palestine frames the practice of sumud through stories of Palestinian birth experiences under Israeli military rule. This ethnography calls attention to the ways women carve their space in public discourse by identifying the intersection of birth with the Israeli occupation, the Palestinian movement, state institutions, hospitals, cities, and laws. Livia Wick goes beyond exploring experiences of giving birth and birth stories in correlation to the memory and construction of social movements. Rather, she emphasizes the complexities of oral history as a methodology that challenges normative and superficial constructions of identity. Oral history is therefore identified as a cultural practice and tool for steadfastness in class- and gender-stratified society in Palestine. This book aims to map how everyday...

You do not currently have access to this content.