The Social and Cultural History of Palestine - by Sarah Irving (Paperback)

About the Book

Explores the social and cultural landscape of Palestine under Late Ottoman and British rule

Book Synopsis

Over the past decade, histories of Late Ottoman and especially Mandate Palestine have moved away from the political framing of the Arab-Israeli conflict to consider questions of social and cultural history, as well as, increasingly, adopting new frameworks such as environmental and medical history. One of the most important voices in this movement, as a scholar and as a mentor of others' work, has been Salim Tamari. This volume brings together both new and established researchers on Late Ottoman and Mandate-era social and cultural history, many of them Palestinian, to showcase the kind of work inspired by Tamari's legacy, to reflect on the development of these themes in the historiographical context, and to contribute to the decolonisation of Palestinian history. The contents range from considerations of tourist souvenirs and artisanal manufacture to the social history of Gaza, and from debates around cosmopolitanism in colonial Palestine to the socio-economic roles of Palestinian women.

Review Quotes

This book, deeply contextualized, dexterously researched, and judiciously written, avoids easy answers while it clings to difficult questions [...] The concern to uncover material -- events, photographs, and oral testimonies -- that captures the interplay of forces shaping Palestinian lives unites the individual essays and enables the book's trenchant power to fully take hold.--Donna Robinson Divine, Smith College "Middle East Journal"

Professor Salim Tamari has revolutionised the study of social and cultural history of modern Palestine. This collection builds on Tamari's insights and methodologies, weaving a fascinating collage of social and cultural trajectories in modern Palestine, from Napoleon's devastation of Jaffa to Palestinian boys in a Jewish agricultural school.

--Yair Wallach, SOAS University of London

This collection of essays showcases the latest and most innovative scholarship on late Ottoman and Mandate Palestine: a new generation of historians has taken up Tamari's social history mantle with great gusto, bringing into the limelight an array of Palestinian actors previously silenced in the historical record.

--Jacob Norris, University of Sussex