Naseej
Life-Weavings of Palestine
Published on 20. March 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
208 pages
978-0-7453-5084-4 (ISBN)
Description
Naseej, meaning 'tapestry' in Arabic, is a book about diverse forms of life, communities, histories and continuities in Palestine. It compiles essays, short stories, poetry, interviews, and visual art to tell an aspect of the Palestinian story that has not been told: the severing of Palestinians from vast and ancient regional histories.
Palestine has always been a precious patchwork of languages, ethnicities, cultures, religions and practices, weaved into the fabric of an Arab and Islamic civilization that was itself a culmination of centuries of interchange and experimentation.
Arriving at a moment of utter devastation - one of the most difficult in Palestinian history - this vibrant collection celebrates the diversity of life in Palestine. From the trajectories of Romani groups to the formations of religious communities like Ahmadiyya Muslims in Haifa, to the political experience of Black Palestinians and much more, Naseej asks what kind of threads remain of this tapestry after some 150 years of modernity and colonialism.
Palestine has always been a precious patchwork of languages, ethnicities, cultures, religions and practices, weaved into the fabric of an Arab and Islamic civilization that was itself a culmination of centuries of interchange and experimentation.
Arriving at a moment of utter devastation - one of the most difficult in Palestinian history - this vibrant collection celebrates the diversity of life in Palestine. From the trajectories of Romani groups to the formations of religious communities like Ahmadiyya Muslims in Haifa, to the political experience of Black Palestinians and much more, Naseej asks what kind of threads remain of this tapestry after some 150 years of modernity and colonialism.
Reviews / Votes
'In its vivid close-ups of the diverse and dynamic communities for whom Palestine was home, Naseej offers both a heart-breaking account of what colonists have cost the world, and a hopeful template for the future. This is the book that is Palestine' -- Ahdaf Soueif, novelist 'A remarkable book of creative personal essays, poems, and scholarly investigations that illuminate the wondrous tapestry that was Palestine before the Zionists imposed their vision of exclusionary ethnonationalism and racialised rule. Unrecognisable today, except in subtle vestiges of interwoven lives and shared solidarities, this book reveals how a land could be called home by diverse people and communities of tangled origins, living side by side as neighbours and kin. As Palestinians.' -- Lila Abu-Lughod, co-editor of <i>Nakba: Palestine, 1948, and the Claims of Memory</i>More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Product notice
Paperback (UK-trade)
Illustrations
5 Illustrations, black and white; 10 Halftones, black and white
Dimensions
Height: 231 mm
Width: 158 mm
Thickness: 27 mm
Weight
274 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-7453-5084-4 (9780745350844)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
03/2025
1st Edition
Pluto Press
€24.49
Available for download
Persons
Arpan Roy is an anthropologist researching Palestine and the region. He is the author of Relative Strangers: Romani Kinship and Palestinian Difference and has held various teaching positions and fellowships in the United States, Europe, and the Middle East.
Noura Salahaldeen is an anthropologist from Jerusalem, currently based in Europe. Her research focuses on the experiences of the African Community of Jerusalem under settler colonial rule in Palestine, and in the Palestinian diaspora in Jordan.
Noura Salahaldeen is an anthropologist from Jerusalem, currently based in Europe. Her research focuses on the experiences of the African Community of Jerusalem under settler colonial rule in Palestine, and in the Palestinian diaspora in Jordan.
Content
Introduction, by Arpan Roy and Noura Salahaldeen
PART I: ITINERARIES
1. Identity Card, by Najwan Darwish
2. Tales and Imaginaries from a Traveling City, by Noura Salahaldeen
3. The Story of Romanies in Palestine Is a Microcosm of the Palestinian Story, by Arpan Roy
4. Life in the Armenian Quarter: Dr. Gaby Kevorkian on the Genocide, Nakba, Naksa, and the Armenian Palestinians, by Antranik Cassem
5. Ibn Battuta in Gaza, by Intimaa Alsdudi and Hadeel Assali
PART II: DIRECTIONS OF PRAYER
6. The Indians of Ottoman Jerusalem, by Tyler Kynn
7. To and from Sufi Jerusalem, by Dalal Odeh and Eman Alyan
8. An "Air Smelling Event": The Metamorphosis of Simon the Just and His Shrine, by Salim Tamari
9. The Ahmadiyya of the Carmel, by Amir Odeh
PART III: TOPOGRAPHIES
10. Geographie Ethnologique du Djolan: Adib Souleiman Bagh, the Golan's Last Geographer, by Aamer Ibraheem
11. Similar but Not the Same: The Heritage Question in Palestine, by Khaldun Bshara
12. The Herzegovinian Muslim Colony in Caesarea, Palestine, by Nina Seferovic
13. On the Use and Misuse of Music: A Conversation about Jumana Manna's A Magical Substance Flows into Me, by Jumana Manna and Saleem al-Bahloly
PART IV: FAMILIAR PLACES
14. Umm Kulthum's Intercessor, by Sheikha Hussein Helawy
15. Saber's Dungeon, by Maisan Hamdan
16. The Theater of Life and Death, by Radi Shehadeh
17. The Circassians in Kafr Kama: Beautiful Homeland Gives Way to Traumatic Dispersal, by Hawa Batwash
18. They Tell Me This Is Jerusalem: Grammars of Belonging in Palestine, by Julia Elyachar
PART I: ITINERARIES
1. Identity Card, by Najwan Darwish
2. Tales and Imaginaries from a Traveling City, by Noura Salahaldeen
3. The Story of Romanies in Palestine Is a Microcosm of the Palestinian Story, by Arpan Roy
4. Life in the Armenian Quarter: Dr. Gaby Kevorkian on the Genocide, Nakba, Naksa, and the Armenian Palestinians, by Antranik Cassem
5. Ibn Battuta in Gaza, by Intimaa Alsdudi and Hadeel Assali
PART II: DIRECTIONS OF PRAYER
6. The Indians of Ottoman Jerusalem, by Tyler Kynn
7. To and from Sufi Jerusalem, by Dalal Odeh and Eman Alyan
8. An "Air Smelling Event": The Metamorphosis of Simon the Just and His Shrine, by Salim Tamari
9. The Ahmadiyya of the Carmel, by Amir Odeh
PART III: TOPOGRAPHIES
10. Geographie Ethnologique du Djolan: Adib Souleiman Bagh, the Golan's Last Geographer, by Aamer Ibraheem
11. Similar but Not the Same: The Heritage Question in Palestine, by Khaldun Bshara
12. The Herzegovinian Muslim Colony in Caesarea, Palestine, by Nina Seferovic
13. On the Use and Misuse of Music: A Conversation about Jumana Manna's A Magical Substance Flows into Me, by Jumana Manna and Saleem al-Bahloly
PART IV: FAMILIAR PLACES
14. Umm Kulthum's Intercessor, by Sheikha Hussein Helawy
15. Saber's Dungeon, by Maisan Hamdan
16. The Theater of Life and Death, by Radi Shehadeh
17. The Circassians in Kafr Kama: Beautiful Homeland Gives Way to Traumatic Dispersal, by Hawa Batwash
18. They Tell Me This Is Jerusalem: Grammars of Belonging in Palestine, by Julia Elyachar