Academic literature on the topic 'Graffiti – Palestine'

The emergence of graffiti's urban subculture as a means of political expression has become a singular issue of the so-called Arab Spring. Graffiti and urban art, which had little to no relevance in the Arab world until now, emerged with unusual force in many countries, notably in the Palestinian territories, Lebanon, and Egypt. This blossoming takes shape in tangent with the strengthening of a civil society and its rise as a decisive actor in the new political arena. In Egypt's case, graffiti achieved a leading role that reflected the milestones of civil disturbance, marking the walls with virtual snapshots of the popular sentiment. The proliferation of graffiti also had considerable resonance in international media because of the strategy of spreading rebellious and subversive slogans by means of the symbolic occupation of a public space, which, until now, was monopolized by authoritarian powers.Spanish Un fenómeno singular de la denominada “Primavera Árabe“ ha sido la eclosión de la subcultura urbana del graffiti como medio de expresión política. De escasa o nula relevancia hasta ahora, el arte urbano de las pintadas ha surgido con una fuerza inusitada en varias zonas del mundo árabe, notoriamente en los Territorios Palestinos, el Líbano y Egipto. Dicho florecimiento cuaja en paralelo con la rearticulación de la sociedad civil y su irrupción irreversible como actor de los nuevos escenarios políticos. En el caso de Egipto, los graffitis han tenido un señalado protagonismo como reflejo de los sucesivos hitos de las revueltas, marcando los muros y paredes con verdaderas instantáneas del sentir popular. La proliferación del graffiti ha tenido asimismo una considerable resonancia en los medios internacionales, debido a la estrategia de ocupar simbólicamente el espacio público, -que hasta ahora estaba reservado al monopolio de los poderes autoritarios- para la difusión de consignas contestatarias y subversivas.French Un phénomène singulier de la “printemps arabe“ a été l'émergence de la culture urbaine du graffiti comme un moyen d'expression politique. Avec peu ou pas d'importance jusqu'à ce jour, l'art urbain et le graffiti ont émergé avec une force inhabituelle dans diverses régions du monde arabe, notamment dans les Territoires Palestiniens, le Liban et l'Égypte. Ce e éclosion doit être mise en parallèle avec le renforcement de la société civile et son émergence comme acteur décisif dans le nouveau scénario politique. Dans le cas de l'Égypte, le graffiti a joué un rôle clé comme reflet des jalons successifs des révoltes, en marquant les murs avec des instantanés virtuelles du sentiment populaire. La prolifération des graffitis a rencontré aussi un écho remarquable dans les médias internationaux en raison de la stratégie d'occupation symbolique de l'espace public pour la diffusion des slogans rebelles et subversifs; un espace public qui était réservé jusqu'à aujourd'hui aux pouvoirs autoritaires.

The human rights conditions of Northern Ireland and Palestine have been analyzed up, down, and sideways by a robust scholarly literature, this article provides a fresh approach to the analysis of media with respect to cultural aspects of human rights conundrums through images of localized as well as globalized “graffiti.” From the near universal influence of the painting of George Washington and company crossing the Delaware River, to brave but dangerous anti-regime graffiti in North Korea, the political nature of private artists operating in the public realm for human rights is recognized as a potentially destabilizing and regime-busting act. With a lens pointed on Palestine and Northern Ireland, we examine this cultural artifact’s power to get attention, obstruct persecution, and ultimately to mitigate some human rights abuses. How does such graffiti work? What are the similarities and differences in their power for enhancing human dignity through different times and places? We also look at the relationship of human rights graffiti to current political trends internationally. Images are used here as method of analysis that may help explain the broader implications of political graffiti for the study of a particular medium of transmission for the study of cultural and societal norms.

Aside from open conflicts within Israel-Palestine, the neighborhood of Florentin is a key-space where to observe and decipher how globalization impacts on the daily-life scale and banal forms of identification and territorial appropriation. Situated south of the Tel Aviv Jaffa agglomeration, and standing in between the two historical entities, the neighborhood of Florentin also offers a fertile analytic ground for a better understanding and different narrative of Tel Aviv itself as well as the contemporary Israeli society in some of its complexity and diversity. Here, graffiti and other traces left in the streets and on the walls of Florentin by successive waves of population constitute the thread to follow for deep-reading the place.

The study aimed to identify the motives and behavior standing behind writing on the walls of institutions of higher education from the point of view of university students in Hebron Governorate. The researchers used the descriptive exploratory approach and the qualitative method through the structured interviewing tool. They developed a scale consisting of (19) items. Respondents asked to identify and order the most important (10) items from their own perspectives. The population of the study consists of (21813) subjects, the total of students according to official statistics issued in the second semester of the academic year (2019-2018) from the four universities in Hebron Governorate: Palestine Polytechnic University, Hebron University, Al Quds Open University with its three branches (Hebron, Yatta and Dura), and Palestine Technical University (PTU) Al- Aroub Branch. For the purpose of the study, a simple random sample of 679 students selected. The outcome of the study concluded that respondents identified and ordered the most important (10) items. They indicated that the "Psychological factor or drive", item 1, is the most important one, and (the motive of rumor, deception and dissemination of lies), item 7, is the last one while the (economic motive), item 19, is the least drive. In light of these results, the researchers present some useful recommendations. Forming expert committees at the universities is badly needed. Committees should be entitled with certain duties as: observing the writings of the students on the walls of the Palestinian higher education institutions, understanding their contents, identifying the needs of students, educating students about the importance of preserving university property, and prohibiting writing on its walls.

La recherche que nous présentons ici traite de questions glottopolitiques. Plus précisément, nous posons comme question de départ la suivante : comment l'Etat israélien et l'Autorité palestinienne se comportent-ils du point de vue glottopolitique par rapport à la coexistence linguistique hébro-arabe en Palestine ? En partant de l'hypothèse selon laquelle ce contact des langues est une diglossie conflictuelle, ce travail met l'accent sur le rôle que pourrait jouer (sous l'occupation israélienne du pays) l'Autorité palestinienne dans l'aménagement de son plurilinguisme notamment en ce qui concerne cette rivalité linguistique. Puis, nous nous interessons aux représentations des Palestiniens par rapport à l'hébreu. Outre la coexistence linguitique hébro-arabe, il y a en Palestine un phénomène sociolinguistique remarquable qui envahit les parois du Pays. Autrement dit, partout en Palestine, on trouve des graffitis sur ses murs. Le peuple palestinien participe ainsi à la gestion de l'environnement linguistique palestinien, dans la mesure où il utilise le langage (comme un instrument) et les murs (comme support) pour s'exprimer. En tant qu'aspect de la glottopolitique et de l'environnement linguistique palestinien, ce phénomène graffitique est envisagé dans cette thèse d'un polint de vue sociolinguistique
This present research deals with of glottopolitic questions. More precisely, in the very beginning we raise this following issue : What is the glottopolitical attitude of both Israeli State and the Palestinian authority with regard to the linguistic coexistence between Hebrew and Arabic in Palestine ? Assuming that this contact of the languages is a conflictual diglossia, this work stresses the role which be could played by the Palestinian Authority (being under the Israeli occupation) in the management of its plurilingualism in this context of linguistic competition. In addition to the linguistic coexistence between Hebrew and Arabic, there is in Palestine a remarkable sociolinguistic phenomenon which invades country's walls. Otherwise, everywhere in Palestine, we find graffiti on walls. Consequently, the Palestinian people are a part and parcel of the country's linguistic management for they use the language as an instrument as the walls as the support to express themselves. As an aspect of the Palestinian glottopolicy and a reality of the country's linguistic environment, this graffiti phenomenon is considered here from a sociolinguistic point of view

Ce travail doctoral porte sur les graffitis et les figures de la frontière dans un camp de réfugiés palestiniens à savoir le camp de Dheisheh, situé à Bethléem, dans les Territoires palestiniens occupés. Une recherche formelle et expérimentale est proposée, entre réalisation documentaire et écriture scientifique. A travers une étude des éléments figuratifs peints sur les murs, il s’agit de proposer une actualisation du savoir sur l’imagerie populaire palestinienne ainsi que de questionner de manière originale les représentations de la frontière au sein d’un espace à la marge. L’analyse du réseau d’acteurs et de leurs motivations à peindre permet d’entrer dans la compréhension des spécificités du mouvement graffiti palestinien, dans une perspective diachronique qui en dessine l’ontologie. La production et coréalisation du film Les murs de Dheisheh permet de mettre en scène l’étude des graffitis, leurs auteurs et les frontières qui traversent le camp, tout en proposant de manière continue une réflexion sur la méthodologie originale employée. Se situant dans une perspective extradisciplinaire, cette thèse de géographie expérimentale porte une dimension épistémologique dans la réflexion qu’elle conduit sur la manière de produire du savoir géographique, en prônant une éthique collaborative qui se pose comme une alternative aux modèles participatifs. L’expérimentation se situe à chaque étape de la recherche puisque le film documentaire permet de coréaliser en un seul objet : méthode d’enquête, données collectées et résultat final. Documenter et analyser les frontières au prisme des graffitis palestiniens à Dheisheh permet d’amener les border studies vers une perspective de géopolitique féministe qui définit l’espace des camps comme étant traversé par des lignes de front mobile et des frontières de Damoclès plaçant les corps au cœur du processus de contrôle mis en place par l’occupation israélienne
This dissertation focuses on graffiti and borders in a Palestinian refugee camp, i.e. Dheisheh camp, located in Bethlehem, in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. A formal and experimental research is proposed, involving documentary film production and scientific writing. Through a study of figurative elements painted on walls, the dissertation contributes to updating current knowledge of Palestinian popular imagery. It also questions, in an original way, representations of the border within a marginal space. The analysis of the network of relevant actors and their motivations to paint allows to understand the specificities of the Palestinian graffiti movement from a diachronic perspective that draws its ontology. The production and co-direction of the documentary Les murs de Dheisheh makes it possible to stage reflections on graffiti, their authors and the borders that cross the camp, while continuously proposing a reflection on the original methodology used. From an extradisciplinary perspective, this dissertation in experimental geography offers an epistemological reflection on how geographical knowledge is produced by advocating a collaborative ethic that is seen as an alternative to participatory model. The experimental dimension of the dissertation unfolds at each stage of the research process since the documentary makes it possible to carry out in a single object: survey method, data collection and final result. Documenting and analysing the borders through the lens of Palestinian graffiti in Dheisheh makes it possible to bring border studies towards a feminist geopolitical perspective that defines the camp space as being crossed by mobile front lines and Damocles’ borders, placing bodies at the heart of the control process set up by the Israeli occupation

Art has been a fundamental tool of Palestinian resistance since the beginning of the Israeli occupation, graffiti being one of its most visible expressions. As a tool of resistance, graffiti is used as a means of mobilization, political expression, and opposition to the hegemony of the Zionist narrative. Careful analysis of graffiti can lead to a better understanding of the characteristics and political aspirations of the Palestinian resistance. However, graffiti painted by Banksy and other international artists on the Separation Wall (built in 2002) has received significantly more media and academic attention than that produced by Palestinian artists. This contributes greatly to increasing the international visibility of the Palestinian cause, however, many locals consider that not only does it embellish the most striking symbol of Israeli occupation, but it casts it in terms too universal to be faithful to the Palestinian experience. Based on the comparative analysis of three murals produced by the Palestinian artist Mohamd Alraee in the Aroub refugee camp (West Bank), this master’s thesis aims to give voice to contemporary Palestinian graffiti, with the aim of capturing the characteristics that are unique to it as a form of resistance.
A arte é, desde o início da ocupação Israelita, uma ferramenta fundamental da resistência palestiniana e o graffiti umas das suas expressões mais visíveis. Na resistência, o graffiti é utilizado como forma de mobilização, expressão política e oposição à hegemonia da narrativa sionista. Uma análise cuidada do graffiti levar-nos-á a um maior entendimento das características e aspirações políticas da resistência palestiniana. No entanto, após a construção, em 2002, do Muro de Separação na Cisjordânia, o graffiti de Banksy e de outros artistas internacionais no mesmo, tem vindo a receber, significativamente, mais atenção mediática e académica que o graffiti produzido por artistas Palestinianos. Se, por um lado, isto contribui para aumentar a visibilidade internacional da causa Palestiniana, por outro, muitos consideram que aqueles não só embelezam o símbolo mais gritante da ocupação Israelita, como a enquadram em termos demasiado universais para conseguirem ser fiéis à experiência Palestiniana. Nesse sentido, com base na análise comparativa de três murais produzidos pelo artista Palestiniano Mohamd Alraee no campo de refugiados de Aroub, na Cisjordânia, esta dissertação de mestrado visa dar voz ao graffiti Palestiniano contemporâneo, com o objectivo de captar as especificidades que lhe são únicas como forma de resistência.

abstract: This study contributes to the literature of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by offering rhetorical and discourse analysis of political graffiti on a wall built by Israel in Palestine. The analysis attempts to answer the urgent questions of why, who, when, how and for whom these graffiti exist. The data collected for the analysis consists of personal photos of graffiti taken randomly in 2010 and 2013 in Bethlehem, on the Palestinian side of the massive wall. Several theories in rhetoric and discourse analysis were consulted to perform the technical rhetorical and linguistic analyses of the graffiti utterances, images, and messages in selected photos of the graffiti. Social, physical, psychological and political factors that affect communication between the wall graffitists and their readers is discussed to assist in the interpretation of the messages of these graffiti from a Palestinian perspective. The findings of this qualitative study show that graffiti on such a high profile site are not typical of violent gang graffiti as commonly interpreted in the US, but rather contribute a universal interactive rhetorical mode employed by local and international graffitists to show their solidarity and demands for basic human rights for a misrepresented culture. Moreover, the wall graffiti function as evidence that graffiti has evolved into a formal performing art that can be found in respected art galleries. The wall graffiti create a dialogue between uncoordinated actors who come from different orientations to produce an array of positions not usually present in corporate media outlets. The analysis of the wall shows that these graffiti promote deep cultural and historical understanding, as well as break down boundaries and stereotypes. The collective threefold result of the analysis is the following: First, graffiti on the wall have a collective universal motive; second, the graffiti give voice to the voiceless; and third, the graffiti can prompt a sociopolitical change that can lead to a long overdue peaceful resolution to the conflict. Keywords: Political rhetoric, discourse analysis, Burke, Halliday, Banksy, political graffiti, street art, Arab graffiti, rhetorical and linguistic patterns, dramatistic, identification, universality, Palestine divisive wall, intertextuality
Dissertation/Thesis
Doctoral Dissertation English 2017

Le graffiti palestinien a une histoire et des spécificités aussi particulières que méconnues. Né dans les camps de réfugiés à la fin des années 1960, le graffiti y est encore largement répandu aujourd’hui. Il est pratiqué par des graffeurs ne se revendiquant pas tous comme artistes et mobilisant des thèmes éminemment politiques. Sur les murs de Palestine nous emmène au sein du camp de Dheisheh pour nous révéler les dessous de ce mouvement aux prises avec les multiples enjeux de la frontière, dans un espace où celle-ci est systématiquement contestée. Ce livre nous raconte également l’histoire de la création d’un film documentaire, coréalisé avec la cinéaste palestinienne Tamara Abu Laban, qui explore les rues du camp et fait entendre ses voix. Grâce à une approche inédite, cette production audiovisuelle pose les conditions mêmes de la recherche et parvient à créer les outils les plus appropriés pour penser les frontières dans leurs formes diffuses, jusqu’à l’échelle des corps qu’elles contraignent. À travers le récit et le parcours d’une chercheure au plus près de son terrain d’étude, cet ouvrage fait l’éloge du travail en collectif et contribue au renouvellement de la méthodologie d’enquête, en décortiquant la dimension politique qui s’y cache. Préface de Philippe Rekacewicz

This chapter reviews the book Jewish Spain: A Mediterranean Memory (2014), by Tabea Alexa Linhard. In Jewish Spain, Linhard argues that contemporary Spain—under the influence of a particular cultural phenomenon of nostalgia—continues to look back to Sepharad of the Hebrew Golden Age, a time when Christian, Jewish, and Muslim cultures coexisted. For Spanish Jewry, Sepharad represents the collective memory of a lost utopian dream. In contrast, traditional and progressive Spanish attitudes toward Jews, then as now, contain elements both of philosemitism and antisemitism. Linhard also explores the issue of multidirectional networks of memory, suggesting that these might fruitfully be regarded in light of present-day realities, citing as an example the graffiti, “Palestina Libre,” that defaces a plaque in the Jewish quarter of Barcelona.

This chapter examines how graffiti was used by ancient Jews to communicate with and about the dead. Focusing on graffiti discovered in cemeteries and burial caves throughout Palestine during the Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine periods, it describes recurrences of graffiti in Jewish mortuary contexts and suggests that acts of carving them were systematic and deliberate exercises, undertaken by Jews inside cemeteries and burial caves throughout the ancient Levant. The chapter first considers the graffiti inside the mortuary landscape of the ancient city of Beit Shearim, which reveal new readings of the cultural matrix of burial populations at the site as well as insights into Jewish life (and death) in the late ancient Roman East. The mortuary graffiti found at Beit Shearim also offer important information about the relationships between regional Jews and contemporaneous rabbis, who may or may not have followed common practices relating to death and commemoration.