Hideous Hydropolitics in Darraj&apos;s <i>A Curious Land</i>

Yousef Awad, null; Tareq Zuhair, null

doi:10.13169/arabstudquar.39.2.0842

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Arab Studies Quarterly

Volume 39, Issue 2

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Hideous Hydropolitics in Darraj's A Curious Land

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Author(s): Yousef Awad , Tareq Zuhair

Publication date (Print): Spring 2017

Journal: Arab Studies Quarterly

Publisher: Pluto Journals

Keywords: water, hydropolitics, Susan Muaddi Darraj, Palestinian literature, resistance, Arab American literature

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Abstract

Water is a contextual symbol in literature. It stands for many things, depending on how it is used in a literary work. It represents, among other meanings, cleanliness, life, salvation, purification, and redemption. In Susan Muddai Darraj's A Curious Land, water plays a pivotal role in conveying themes and ideas that are pertinent to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. In particular, this article explores how Darraj draws on the multivalent connotations of water to aesthetically and thematically valorize some of the dynamics of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. In a way, water intricately intertwines with the national Palestinian identity and it explains the causes of several Israeli assaults and aggressions on Palestinian territories and neighboring Arab countries. As the collection shows, Israeli hydropolitics and hydro-apartheid keep the Palestinians below the water poverty line in a bid to destroy their resilience and force them to emigrate. Hence, water in this collection acquires important meanings for the Palestinians, like rejuvenation, resistance, and rootedness.

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Author and article information

Journal

Journal ID (doi): 10.13169

Journal ID (publisher-id): arabstudquar

Title: Arab Studies Quarterly

Publisher: Pluto Journals

ISSN (Print): 02713519

ISSN (Electronic): 20436920

Publication date (Print): Spring 2017

Volume: 39

Issue: 2

Pages: 842-860

Article

Publisher ID: arabstudquar.39.2.0842

DOI: 10.13169/arabstudquar.39.2.0842

SO-VID: 0459d133-ae8c-4b4c-8a7e-54995014c02f

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History

References

Awad, Yousef (2015). Displacement, Belonging and Identity in Susan Muaddi Darraj's The Inheritance of Exile . Studies in Literature and Language , 10(2), 1–10.
Barbati, Gabriele (2013). World Water Wars: In the West Bank, Water Is Just Another Conflict Issue for Israelis and Palestinians. International Business Times , 7 December. Web. Accessed July 3, 2016. <http://www.ibtimes.com/world-water-wars-west-bank-water-just-another-conflict-issue-israelis-palestinians-1340783>.
Bosch-Vilarrubias, Marta (2016). Post-9/11 Representations of Arab Men by Arab American Women Writers: Affirmations and Resistance . New York: Peter Lang.
Cariello, Marta (2016). Female Genealogies of Place: Nation, City and Refugees Camps, in Susan Muaddi Darraj's The Inheritance of Exile . RiCOGNIZIONI: Rivista di lingue, letterature e culture modern 3(5), 73–85.
CESR (2016). The Right to Water in Palestine: A Background. Web. Accessed August 15, 2016. <http://www.cesr.org/sites/default/files/downloads/ThirstingforJustice.pdf>.
Coupe, Laurence (2013). The Green Theory. In The Routledge Companion to Critical and Cultural Theory , eds. Simon Malpas and Paul Wake, 154–166. London and New York: Routledge.
Darraj, Susan Muaddi (2015). A Curious Land: Stories from Home . Boston: University of Massachusetts Press.
Halaby, Laila (2007). Once in a Promised Land . Boston: Beacon Press.
Hall, Joseph (2015) Shared Sorrow, Shared Abundance: Water-waste Flows in Palestinian Literature. Postcolonial Studies 18(3), 257–278.
Harlow, Barbara (1987). Resistance Literature . London: Routledge.
Kovel, Joel (2007). Overcoming Zionism: Creating a Single Democratic State in Israel /Palestine . London and Toronto, ON: Pluto Press.
Lautze, Jonathan and Paul Kirshen (2009). Water Allocation, Climate Change, and Sustainable Water Use in Israel/Palestine: The Palestinian Position. International Water 34(2), 189–203.
Lemire, Vincent (2011). The Awakening of Palestinian Hydropolitical Consciousness: The Artas-Jerusalem Water Conflict of 1925. Jerusalem Quarterly 48, 31–53.
Lowi, Miriam. R. (1995). Water and Power: The Politics of a Scarce Resource in the Jordan River Basin . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
METAP (n.d.). Climate Change Adaptation in the Water Sector in the Middle East and North Africa: A Review of Main Issues. Web. Accessed June 20, 2016. <http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/user_upload/rome2007/docs/Climate_Change_Adaptation_Water_Sector_NENA.pdf>.
Pappe, Ilan (2013). The Forgotten Palestinians: A History of the Palestinians in Israel . New Haven, CT and London: Yale University Press.
Selby, Jan (2003) Water, Power and Politics in the Middle East: The Other Israel-Palestine Conflict . London and New York: I. B. Tauris.
Sinno, Nadine (2014). Five Troops for Every Tree; Lamenting Green Carnage in Contemporary Arab Women's War Diaries. Arab Studies Quarterly , 36(2), 107–127.
Weizman, Eyal (2007). Hollo Land: Israel's Architecture of Occupation . London and New York: Verso.
Zeitoun, Mark (2008). Power and Water in the Middle East: The Hidden Politics of the Palestinian-Israeli Water Conflict . London and New York: I. B. Tauris.

Comments

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[1] Awad, Yousef (2015). Displacement, Belonging and Identity in Susan Muaddi Darraj's The Inheritance of Exile . Studies in Literature and Language , 10(2), 1–10.

[2] Barbati, Gabriele (2013). World Water Wars: In the West Bank, Water Is Just Another Conflict Issue for Israelis and Palestinians. International Business Times , 7 December. Web. Accessed July 3, 2016. <http://www.ibtimes.com/world-water-wars-west-bank-water-just-another-conflict-issue-israelis-palestinians-1340783>.

[3] Bosch-Vilarrubias, Marta (2016). Post-9/11 Representations of Arab Men by Arab American Women Writers: Affirmations and Resistance . New York: Peter Lang.

[4] Cariello, Marta (2016). Female Genealogies of Place: Nation, City and Refugees Camps, in Susan Muaddi Darraj's The Inheritance of Exile . RiCOGNIZIONI: Rivista di lingue, letterature e culture modern 3(5), 73–85.

[5] CESR (2016). The Right to Water in Palestine: A Background. Web. Accessed August 15, 2016. <http://www.cesr.org/sites/default/files/downloads/ThirstingforJustice.pdf>.

[6] Coupe, Laurence (2013). The Green Theory. In The Routledge Companion to Critical and Cultural Theory , eds. Simon Malpas and Paul Wake, 154–166. London and New York: Routledge.

[7] Darraj, Susan Muaddi (2015). A Curious Land: Stories from Home . Boston: University of Massachusetts Press.

[8] Halaby, Laila (2007). Once in a Promised Land . Boston: Beacon Press.

[9] Hall, Joseph (2015) Shared Sorrow, Shared Abundance: Water-waste Flows in Palestinian Literature. Postcolonial Studies 18(3), 257–278.

[10] Harlow, Barbara (1987). Resistance Literature . London: Routledge.

[11] Kovel, Joel (2007). Overcoming Zionism: Creating a Single Democratic State in Israel /Palestine . London and Toronto, ON: Pluto Press.

[12] Lautze, Jonathan and Paul Kirshen (2009). Water Allocation, Climate Change, and Sustainable Water Use in Israel/Palestine: The Palestinian Position. International Water 34(2), 189–203.

[13] Lemire, Vincent (2011). The Awakening of Palestinian Hydropolitical Consciousness: The Artas-Jerusalem Water Conflict of 1925. Jerusalem Quarterly 48, 31–53.

[14] Lowi, Miriam. R. (1995). Water and Power: The Politics of a Scarce Resource in the Jordan River Basin . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[15] METAP (n.d.). Climate Change Adaptation in the Water Sector in the Middle East and North Africa: A Review of Main Issues. Web. Accessed June 20, 2016. <http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/user_upload/rome2007/docs/Climate_Change_Adaptation_Water_Sector_NENA.pdf>.

[16] Pappe, Ilan (2013). The Forgotten Palestinians: A History of the Palestinians in Israel . New Haven, CT and London: Yale University Press.

[17] Selby, Jan (2003) Water, Power and Politics in the Middle East: The Other Israel-Palestine Conflict . London and New York: I. B. Tauris.

[18] Sinno, Nadine (2014). Five Troops for Every Tree; Lamenting Green Carnage in Contemporary Arab Women's War Diaries. Arab Studies Quarterly , 36(2), 107–127.

[19] Weizman, Eyal (2007). Hollo Land: Israel's Architecture of Occupation . London and New York: Verso.

[20] Zeitoun, Mark (2008). Power and Water in the Middle East: The Hidden Politics of the Palestinian-Israeli Water Conflict . London and New York: I. B. Tauris.