Esau’s Mission, or Trauma as Propaganda: Disability after the Intifada
Main Article Content
Keywords
trauma, Intifada, Biblical sources
Abstract
Israelis and Palestinians, while sharing an I/Abrahamic root, many chapters of Semitic history, and common values of resourcefulness and valor, both have defended their cultural boundaries through the exchange of mutilating, annihilative blows upon the other. The intifada (an Arabic word meaning to shake off or shiver because of illness, fear, or weakness) of the millennium signify a trope of body and status among the fragmented population in the region; specifically, the propagandizing of traumatic events that suggest victimization and invalidation. The discursive nature of “unnatural” catastrophe—devastation of Palestinian communities by Israeli Defense Forces, blitzing of Israeli civilians in planned attacks— substitutes the propaganda of trauma for the reality of disability experienced in both cultures. Reflecting the duality of rhetorical positions seen in I/Abraham’s disposition of both Isaac and Esau, this essay links the root of trauma propaganda to the ideology of religious fitness and righteousness.
References
Abrams, J. K. (1998). Judaism and disability: Portrayals in ancient texts from the Tanach through the Bavli. Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press.
Accessibility Foundation (2002). Disability inequality in Israel. http://www.accessibility.com.au
Bizchut.org.il, n.d.
Couser, G. T. (2005). Paradigms’ cost: Representing vulnerable subjects. Literature and Medicine, 24(1), 28-29.
Das, V., & Addlakha, R. (2001). Disability and domestic citizenship: Voice, gender, and the making of the subject. Public Culture, 13(3).
Gilman, S. (2004). Review: Meira Weiss, The chosen body. Modern Judaism, 24(1), 91-93.
Introduction and Sûrah XIV, Ibrahim: Revealed at Mecca. The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1997) (Mohammed Marmaduke Pickthall, trans.), xi, 186-190. New York: Meridian.
Kabbara, N. (2003). Arab conference on disability held October 2002 in Beirut identifies violence as a major cause of disability. Beirut: Arab Organization of Disabled People. http://www.disabilityworld.org
K. V. (1992). The effect of Palestinian rehabilitation organizations for Intifada Disabled. Bethlehem University Journal, 11(12), 97-98. Bethlehem: Bethlehem University.
Malki, G. (1997). Reaching the unreached: The Palestinian experience during the intifada. Enabling Education Network Newsletter, I (December). Manchester: Centre for Educational Needs, University of Manchester. http://www.eenet.org.uk
Meforum.org, n.d.
Nagata, K. K. (2003). Gender and disability in the Arab region: The challenges in the new millennium. Asia Pacific Disability Rehabilitation Journal, 14(1),14.
New law would bar Palestinians from claiming compensation from Israel. Arabic News. (n.d.) http://www.arabicnews.com
Palestinian Information Center. (2005). Hamas tad’u li-al-tasadi li-al-‘udwan al-sahyuni wa-tudin qiyam al-sulta bi-l’tiqal al-Mujahideen. http://www.palestine-info.net
Palestinianmonitor.org, n.d.
Reiss, R. M. (1961). Esau, son of Isaac and grandson of Abraham. In J. Abramowitz, trans., Bible Commentator; “Deuteronomy”: Midrash Rabbah, I(15), 16-18. London: Soncino.
Salem, M. O. (1990). Stigma and the origin of disability: The case of the Palestinians. (excerpt, electronic version) Manchester: unpublished Master’s thesis.
Weiss, M. (2002). The chosen body: The politics of the body in Israeli society. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Article Sidebar
Article Details
RDS Journal is an open-access journal, create a free account to read full articles and to submit a proposal. For visual arts and multimedia, submission will be considered evidence that you are offering RDS the right to display your work without penalty, compensation or royalties.
Marcy Epstein, Advanced Research Fellow, University of Michigan; Assistant Professor of Education, Language Arts, and Disability, University of Windsor
Marcy Epstein is currently an advanced research Fellow at the University of Michigan for the U.S. Department of Education/OSERS National Institute for Disability Research and Rehabilitation, and Assistant Professor of Education, Language Arts, and Disability at the University of Windsor. She writes about her spinal cord injury during the onset of intifada in her recent collection, Deep: Real Life with SCI. She has been developing new methodologies for narrative research for the medical and health sciences, facilitating the translation of disability experience into research and clinical practice. She plans to return to teaching disability studies next year.