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Defining, Embracing and Resisting (State)lessness

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Narratives of Statelessness and Political Otherness

Part of the book series: Minorities in West Asia and North Africa ((MWANA))

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Abstract

This chapter engages with the narratives of Kurdish and Palestinian migrants regarding what statelessness entail to them and affect their identity formation, voice, status, visibility and presence in the world in the context of sovereign and non-sovereign identities. It also discusses commonality and differences between these two group in relation to statelessness and how they relate to each other as members of two nations without states. While the Kurds generally regard statelessness as a political device to gain international recognition and support, the Palestinians view statelessness as a dangerous appellation since it is interpreted as turning the Palestinians into a ‘landless’ people and legitimizing Israeli mastery. The question of resistance to statelessness is also highlighted. An important focus of this chapter is to discuss hierarchy of statelessness and suffering that certain Palestinian and Kurdish individuals either endorse or challenge.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Social Work, Linnaeus University, Kalmar, Sweden

    Barzoo Eliassi

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  1. Barzoo Eliassi
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Correspondence to Barzoo Eliassi .

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Eliassi, B. (2021). Defining, Embracing and Resisting (State)lessness. In: Narratives of Statelessness and Political Otherness. Minorities in West Asia and North Africa. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-76698-6_3

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