Contemporary scholars in the fields of medical and psychological anthropology argue that trauma is “the great psychiatric narrative of our era,” and if this is true, then the imperative of resilience is perhaps the most pervasive counter-narrative. Delivered as both a proactive and reactive coping mechanism fostering the ability to bounce back as well as bounce forward in the face of adversity and tragedy, this concept of resilience has emerged as a universally accepted notion in a wide range of domains, especially in conflict-ridden regions of the world. This seminar points an ethnographic lens on the equation of resilience-against-trauma in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Employing a top-down perspective, we will explore the deployment of resilience as a political tool in Israel’s discursive arsenal aimed at shaping public perception, and resilience as a data-driven category of measurement within a process aimed at mitigating the effects of trauma experienced by particularly vulnerable communities and by the population as a whole. From a bottom-up perspective, we will examine resilience as an ethos – a contestable ideal of human behavior which, as shaped within this particular socio-political and cultural context, has functioned as a catalyst for unique negotiations between diverse social players, among them Jewish-Israeli and Arab-Palestinian mental health experts, Palestinian and Israeli community leaders, and the chronically traumatized members of local communities living near the border with Gaza.

Instructor: Keren Friedman-Peleg

Repeat Rules