Between Reality and Documentary - (Soas Palestine Studies) by Shahd Abusalama (Hardcover)

About the Book

"This book investigates representations of Palestinian refugees in Gaza in colonial, humanitarian and Palestinian documentary films, spanning until the 1993 Oslo Agreement. Chapters examine various film sources throughout this period including British Pathâe, newsreels, Quaker and UNRWA documentaries, and Palestinian opposition cinema. In exploring the historical, ideologically fuelled, representations of Gaza and its refugees in colonial and humanitarian films, and the opposition to it, this book reaffirms the continuity of Palestinian resistance, refugees' call for return, and the importance of Gaza itself to the Palestinian struggle"--

Book Synopsis

This book investigates representations of Palestinian refugees in Gaza in colonial, humanitarian and Palestinian documentary films, spanning until the 1993 Oslo Agreement.Chapters examine various film sources throughout this period including British Pathé, newsreels, Quaker and UNRWA documentaries, and Palestinian opposition cinema.

British Pathé is considered as a window into the wider colonial depiction of indigenous Palestinians in the British Mandate period; newsreels are examined as representations of the plight of Palestinian refugees in Gaza after Israel's proclamation and Gaza-focused humanitarian documentaries shot by the Quakers and UNRWA are compared. The final chapters trace the evolution of oppositional documentary filmmaking, from the cinema of revolution (1968-1982) to the peace deal of 1993. Through a close audio-visual and textual analysis, rooted in a historical-contextual approach, Shahd Abusalama explores the techniques used to project emancipatory representations while highlighting shifts and variations in the imagery around Gaza refugees. In exploring the historical, ideologically fuelled, representations of Gaza and its refugees in colonial and humanitarian films, and the opposition to it, this book reaffirms the continuity of Palestinian resistance, refugees' call for return, and the importance of Gaza itself to the Palestinian struggle.

Review Quotes

A crucial text for anyone interested in Palestine and its painful history under Zionist occupation, mapping the history of Gaza in the twentieth century through the illustrated perspective of documentary cinema representation. The rich, complex and vibrant story of Gaza is vividly told - a narrative of strength and perseverance against the odds - a struggle for modernity, liberation and justice. Reading this at the time of the Gaza genocide offers a special take on its crucial importance for a future, post-Zionist Palestinian democracy - highly readable and warmly recommended.
Professor Haim Bresheeth-Zabner, SOAS, University of London

This book offers a critical, original and urgent study of the historical ideological cinematic representations of Palestinian refugees, with a focus on Gazan refugees, from Mandatory Palestine until the 1993 Oslo Peace Accords. Through a detailed analysis of filmic representations, including the colonial newsreels of British Pathe, the book systematically addresses the competing discourses of imperial legacy that have contributed both to the "naturalisation", denigration and isolation of Palestinians as a subject people, while highlighting their consistent and continuing resistance. The book is a timely critical account that offers a counter narrative to the de-historicised language of colonial and settler colonial exceptionalism around Gaza and Palestine.
Professor Dina Matar, SOAS Centre for Palestine Studies, University of London

With incisive alertness to historical and aesthetic resonance, Between Reality and Documentary conscientiously exposes how different filmmaking practices - from the colonial to the humanitarian to the liberatory - each stake their claim on the territory of Gaza. Shahd Abusalama's scholarshippowerfully exemplifies academic writing as anti-colonial activism.
Kay Dickinson, Senior Lecturer, University of Glasgow

About the Author

Shahd Abusalama is an activist scholar, artist and writer, born and raised in Jabalia Refugee Camp, Gaza. She graduated from Sheffield Hallam University, UK, with a Ph.D. examining the historical representations of Gaza in documentary films between 1917 and 1993. She is the author of the Palestine from My Eyes blog and book, and a co-founder of London-based Hawiyya Dance Company.