The article "Hemsökelser från Gaza" (English translation: "Hauntings from Gaza") was published in Antroperspektiv, an online journal run by the Swedish Association of Anthropologists, on December 22, 2023. Below are some excerpts translated into English.
I have been researching Palestinian society on various occasions over the last 20 years. There have always been widespread human rights violations and direct physical violence, but the amount of destruction and death and injury to Palestinians in the ongoing war in Gaza is unprecedented, writes Nina Gren.
In the last 75 years, since the first Israeli-Arab war and the mass expulsion of Palestinians that followed, al-Nakba, many Palestinians have become experts in recovery.
[Palestinians] have developed several ways to deal with violence and war and to rebuild their lives again and again.
In my research, mostly conducted in the West Bank, I have shown that Palestinians in general are extremely persistent or resilient and they use a specific word, sumud in Arabic, to describe their ability to be steadfast and to recover from difficulties. This steadfastness can mean simply staying in Palestine rather than migrating. It is both a strategy for survival and an expression of political resistance.
My research has also shown that the local community has been crucial in supporting and comforting Palestinian families who have lost a loved one during the military occupation.
