Palestine in the Air - (Soas Palestine Studies) by Chin-Chin Yap (Hardcover)

About the Book

The first cultural history of Palestinian aviation.

Book Synopsis

As the first cultural history of Palestinian aviation, Palestine in the Air reveals civil aviation's role in the 'question of Palestine' over the past century.

How do Palestinians-as individuals, communities, and as a nascent state-engage with the air? How does their systemic exclusion from aerial agency inform dominant and counter-narratives of culture and modernity?

International civil aviation is a powerful tool for the disenfranchisement of Palestinian statehood, connectivity, and mobility. Yet, Palestinians have constantly sought to harness aviation as a legitimate component of modern state-building. They have also creatively appropriated aviation technologies including balloons, kites, and drones as instruments of resistance, exploiting flight's symbolic qualities of escape and liberation to highlight the injustices of occupation.

Using an interdisciplinary approach that draws on media studies, cultural studies, critical theory, diplomacy, and history, Palestine in the Air examines civil aviation's political, social, and cultural impact upon the Palestinian quest for sovereignty. The book makes use of an unprecedented range of aviation-related sources spanning unpublished memoirs, print and image archives, interviews, art, film, literature, poetry, and stand-up comedy.

Review Quotes

A bird's eye perspective on the role of aviation in Palestinian state-building, international diplomacy and cultural iconography. Chin-chin trains her interdisciplinary lens on Palestinian airports, airlines and air travel against broader political developments, highlighting aviation as a form of colonial domination, as an act of resistance, and as a central dimension in the representations of Palestinians in the popular imagination.
Eyal Weizman, Professor of Spatial and Visual Cultures, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK

A compelling and imaginative book about aviation's central role in the Palestinian struggle for self-determination under the longest military occupation of modern times. It presents air, space, and flight as essential elements of political autonomy and individual freedom, and convincingly argues that they are inseparable from the human endeavour for dignity and value.
Ai Weiwei, artist

Palestine in the Air offers a nuanced look at how aviation shapes the political and humanitarian dimensions of the Palestinian experience. With compelling analysis, it explores the intersection of airspace control, political leverage and humanitarian aid, providing vital insight into one of the most complex geopolitical realities.
Boris Cheshirkov, former UN Refugee Agency spokesperson

About the Author

Chin-chin Yap is a writer and filmmaker. She edited Human Flow: Stories from the Global Refugee Crisis (2020) and has been published in the Journal of Palestine Studies, Digital War, Columbia Journal of Law & the Arts, The Tax Lawyer, and Art Asia Pacific. She has produced documentary films including Human Flow (2017), The Rest (2019), Ximei (2019), and Rohingya (2021).