Palestinian Refugees between the City and the Camp

The camp and the city are both important for understanding the relationship between space and identity in the refugee experience of exile. In the Palestinian example, the camp has emerged as a potent symbol in the narrative of exile although only a third of refugees registered with UNRWA live in cam...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inInternational journal of Middle East studies Vol. 52; no. 4; pp. 607 - 621
Main Author Totah, Faedah M.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published New York, USA Cambridge University Press 01.11.2020
Subjects
Activities of daily living
Articulation
Aspiration
Belonging
Camps
Cities
Displaced persons
Everyday life
Exile
Humanitarianism
Medieval period
Minority & ethnic violence
National identity
Neighborhoods
Palestinian people
Politics
Refugee camps
Refugees
World War II
Europe
Syria
Palestinians
refugee camps
urban refugees
cities
Syria
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Summary:The camp and the city are both important for understanding the relationship between space and identity in the refugee experience of exile. In the Palestinian example, the camp has emerged as a potent symbol in the narrative of exile although only a third of refugees registered with UNRWA live in camps. Moreover, the city and urban refugees remain missing in most of the scholarship on the Palestinian experience with space, exile, and identity. Furthermore, there is little attention to how refugees understand the concept of the city and camp in their daily life. This article examines how Palestinian urban refugees in the Old City of Damascus conceptualized the relationship between the camp and the city. It illustrates how the concept of the camp remained necessary for the construction of their collective national identity while in Syria. However, the city was essential in the articulation of individual desires and establishing social distinction from other refugees. Thus, during a protracted exile it is in the interstice between the city and the camp, where most urban refugees in the Old City situated themselves, that informed their national belonging and personal aspirations.
ISSN:0020-7438
1471-6380
DOI:10.1017/S0020743820000768