The Holy Land in Transit
Colonialism and the Quest for Canaan
Will be published approx. on 3. November 2006
Book
Hardback
246 pages
978-0-8156-3125-5 (ISBN)
Description
Steven Salaita's ambitious and thought-provoking work compares the dynamics of settler colonialism in the United States related to Native Americans with the circumstances in Israel related to the Palestinians, revealing the way in which politics influences literary production.
The author's original approach is based not on similarities between the two disparate settler regions but rather on similarities between the rhetoric employed by early colonialists in North America and that employed by Zionist immigrants in Palestine. Meticulously examining histories, theories, and literary depictions of colonialism and interethnic dialects, Salaita identifies the commonalities in the myths employed by both groups as well as the "counter-discourse" cultivated in the literature of resistance by native peoples. He complements his analysis with personal observations of Palestinians in Lebanese refuge camps, where he encountered a sympathetic perception of American Indians.
The Holy Land in Transit presents one of the first intercommunal studies to assess the ways in which indigenous authors react to analogous colonial dynamics. With great energy and perception the author offers a fresh contribution to an emerging frame of reference for historical, political, literary, and cultural investigation.
The author's original approach is based not on similarities between the two disparate settler regions but rather on similarities between the rhetoric employed by early colonialists in North America and that employed by Zionist immigrants in Palestine. Meticulously examining histories, theories, and literary depictions of colonialism and interethnic dialects, Salaita identifies the commonalities in the myths employed by both groups as well as the "counter-discourse" cultivated in the literature of resistance by native peoples. He complements his analysis with personal observations of Palestinians in Lebanese refuge camps, where he encountered a sympathetic perception of American Indians.
The Holy Land in Transit presents one of the first intercommunal studies to assess the ways in which indigenous authors react to analogous colonial dynamics. With great energy and perception the author offers a fresh contribution to an emerging frame of reference for historical, political, literary, and cultural investigation.
Reviews / Votes
The deftness with which Steven Salaita decodes the densely-packed Eurosupremacist narratives by which we have come to disapprehend the reality we inhabit is astonishing, on par in many respects with the work of Edward Said, Richard Drinnon and Anne McClintock. The Holy Land in Transit is an essential offering by one of the most promising - indeed, exiting - young scholars to emerge in recent years." - Ward Churchill, author of Fantasies of the Master RaceMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Dimensions
Height: 239 mm
Width: 154 mm
Thickness: 19 mm
Weight
454 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8156-3125-5 (9780815631255)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Steven Salaita is assistant professor of English at Virginia Tech. He is the author of Anti-Arab Racism in the U.S.A. and Arab American Fictions, Cultures, and, Politics.