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Refugee Camp as Mediating Locality: Memory and Place in Protracted Exile

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Memories on the Move

Part of the book series: Migration, Diasporas and Citizenship ((MDC))

Abstract

Both in popular imagination and academic literature, refugees’ growing attachment to their place of residence in exile is understood to occur at the cost of their commitment to their place of origin. Based on a case study of Al-Amʻari, a Palestinian refugee camp in the West Bank, this chapter views the refugee camp as a mediating locality where the two seemingly conflicting spatial loyalties can be reconciled. It analyses residents’ efforts to preserve the refugee character of the camp community and redefine the nature of Al-Amʻari’s commemorative utterance in a prolonged, and continuing, exile. These efforts have allowed the site to maintain its symbolism and have framed the refugees’ attachment to the camp as an expression of their commitment to their place of origin.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Middle East and North Africa, Faculty of International and Political Studies, University of Łódź, Łódź, Poland

    Dorota Woroniecka-Krzyzanowska

Authors
  1. Dorota Woroniecka-Krzyzanowska
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

    Monika Palmberger

  2. Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

    Jelena Tošić

Additional information

Completing this project would not have been possible without the great amount of help, support and encouragement I received from the people of Al-Am‘ari. I am very grateful to Monika Palmberger and Jelena Tosic, the editors of this volume, for their critical engagement with this paper and constructive feedback. The article is based on a PhD dissertation, for which the author received funds from the Polish National Science Centre through a doctoral scholarship granted by decision number DEC-2013/08/T/HS/300128. I would also like to thank my supervisors, Professor Joanna Kurczewska and Dr Joshua Dubrow, for theoretical insights and thorough comments that helped me shape this project. My gratitude goes to the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Polish Academy of Sciences and Department of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Birzeit University, who hosted me during the completion of this article.

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Woroniecka-Krzyzanowska, D. (2016). Refugee Camp as Mediating Locality: Memory and Place in Protracted Exile. In: Palmberger, M., Tošić, J. (eds) Memories on the Move. Migration, Diasporas and Citizenship. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-57549-4_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-57549-4_3

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-137-57548-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-57549-4

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