In The Making of a Human Bomb, Nasser Abufarha, a Palestinian anthropologist, explains the cultural logic underlying Palestinian martyrdom operations (suicide attacks) launched against Israel during the Al-Aqsa Intifada (2000–06). In so doing, he sheds much-needed light on how Palestinians have experienced and perceived the broader conflict. During the Intifada, many of the martyrdom operations against Israeli targets were initiated in the West Bank town of Jenin and surrounding villages. Abufarha was born and raised in Jenin. His personal connections to the area enabled him to conduct ethnographic research there during the Intifada, while he was a student at a U.S. university.

Abufarha draws on the life histories of martyrs, interviews he conducted with their families and members of the groups that sponsored their operations, and examinations of Palestinian literature, art, performance, news stories, and political commentaries. He also assesses data—about the bombers, targets, and fatalities caused—from more than two hundred martyrdom operations carried out by Palestinian groups between 2001 and 2004. Some involved the use of explosive belts or the detonation of cars; others entailed armed attacks against Israeli targets (military and civilian) undertaken with the intent of fighting until death. In addition, he scrutinized suicide attacks executed by Hamas and Islamic Jihad between 1994 and 2000. In his analysis of Palestinian political violence, Abufarha takes into account Palestinians' understanding of the history of the conflict with Israel, the effects of containment on Palestinians' everyday lives, the disillusionment created by the Oslo peace process, and reactions to specific forms of Israeli state violence. The Making of a Human Bomb illuminates the Palestinians' perspective on the conflict with Israel and provides a model for ethnographers seeking to make sense of political violence.

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Yes, you can access The Making of a Human Bomb by Nasser Abufarha, Neil L. Whitehead, Jo Ellen Fair, Leigh A. Payne, Neil L. Whitehead,Jo Ellen Fair,Leigh A. Payne in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Social Sciences & Middle Eastern History. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Information

Publisher

Duke University Press Books

Year

2009

Print ISBN

9780822344391, 9780822344285

eBook ISBN

9780822392118

Topic

Social Sciences

Subtopic

Middle Eastern History

Index

Social Sciences

24

chapter 

one

cesses 

is

integrated 

into 

military 

and

political 

strategies. 

I

further 

discuss

how

these 

performances 

of

violence 

in

the

public 

places 

of

the

‘‘enemy’’

and

the

cultural 

meanings 

that 

they 

carry 

move 

the

battlegrounds 

from

the

physical 

ﬁelds 

to

the

conceptual 

ﬁelds. 

I

point 

out

that 

martyrdom

strategies 

rest 

on

moving 

the

battle 

to

levels 

of

identity 

and

conceptual

rootedness, 

thereby 

altering 

the

power 

conﬁgurations 

of

the

encounter.

Finally, 

in

chapter 

7

I

discuss 

the

implications 

of

my

research 

for

the

anthropology 

of

violence 

and

for

a

comprehensive 

analysis 

of

the

vari-

ous

historical, 

cultural, 

political, 

and

military 

dimensions 

of

the

human

bomb 

at

the

local, 

regional, 

and

global 

levels. 

I

further 

crystallize 

the

development 

of

this 

form 

of

violence 

in

the

historical 

context 

and

the

space 

that 

it

occupies 

in

Palestine 

today. 

I

also 

provide 

insights 

into

future 

research 

on

possible 

appropriate 

responses 

to

the

strategies 

of

martyrdom 

in

Palestine.

Contents
Acknowledgments
Chapter One - Introduction
Chapter Two - Histories and Historicities in Palestine
Chapter Three - State Expansion and the Violence of "Peace Making’’ in Palestine
Chapter Four - The Carrier
Chapter Five - Dying to Live
Chapter Six - The Strategies and Politics of Martyrdomi n Palestine
Chapter Seven - Conclusion
Appendix
Notes
Bibliography
Index

9780520975064,

About this book

Frequently asked questions

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