Description
Book SynopsisVictoria Biggs is a researcher at Durham University, UK. Previously she held the Max Batley Postdoctoral Fellowship in Peace Studies at the University of Sheffield, UK. She is also a special school teacher and storyteller working extensively with young people who have experienced violence. Her fieldwork in the Middle East was supported by the Council for British Research in the Levant.
Trade Review[I]n addition to the book’s empirical contributions, it makes methodological and theoretical contributions by adding to the corpus of knowledge on storytelling, narration, and contested histories ... Further, Biggs raises ethical questions regarding carrying out research in overstudied areas and explains how she adjusted her own approach to better listen to and empower the youth with whom she worked; thus, this book is of relevance to students of fieldwork methods more broadly, not only to those working in Israel/Palestine. * Journal of Palestine Studies *
Victoria Biggs writes a compelling book that brings young people’s stories into the foreground, troubling familiar narratives with a dynamic, rich and highly readable account of lives lived amidst violence, oppression and long-standing conflict. She argues that ‘telling a story is an act of trust’ and ‘listening is an expression of responsibility’. I would urge all interested in the politics and narratives of Israel-Palestine to read this book and take that responsibility. -- James Thompson, Professor of Applied Theatre, University of Manchester, UK
This book focuses on young people as storytellers in the violent and politicized Israeli-Palestinian context and gives us new insights into the worries, dreams and reasoning of Palestinian and Israeli youth. By giving voice to children and youth in Palestinian cities and refugee camps, in Israeli settlements as well as in bilingual educational settings, the author manage to transmit the complexities of identity formation, place-making, political stances and processes of othering. -- Nina Gren, Assistant Professor, Lund University, Sweden
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Once Upon an Intifada At the Edge of Known Stories Field Sites and Fault Lines Story against Narrative Young People as Storytellers Language and the Hidden Landscape Fairy Tale as an Idiom of Terror A Lexicon of Symbols Mother Tongues and Other Tongues Violence in the Narration of Self and Other Face to Face: the Fundamental Violence of Storytelling Storytelling as Self-Expression and Suppression Purity in Narrative? Storytelling as Transgression “What Do They Tell About Us?” Forbidden Histories in Contested Spaces Narrative Drifts into Forbidden Terrain Topographies of Forbidden History in Israel/Palestine “Until the Seventh Wave”: The Liquid Borders of Memory Happily Ever After? Telling Endings Unfinished Houses The Sense of an Ending: Making Meaning through Narrative Structure “To Make the Dream Come True”: Ending Political Violence Ending the Research: Central Themes and Patterns Bibliography Index
