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Save (us from) the children: trauma, Palestinian childhood, and the production of governable subjects

Marshall, D.J.

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Authors

D.J. Marshall



Abstract

Since the Second Intifada, trauma relief has served as the primary justification for a range of international humanitarian aid projects targeting Palestinian children and youth. Such humanitarian aid projects presume that the default response to violence is trauma, and that trauma left untreated will lead to aggression and violence. Thus, implicit in trauma relief projects targeting Palestinian children is the threat that if they are not properly treated their pent up emotional energy will release itself violently in the future. Moreover, the focus on personal healing through individual self-expression in trauma relief projects serves to depoliticize the context in which violence occurs, transforming the occupation into a set of symptoms to be treated. Likewise, the focus on individual trauma forecloses other possible responses to violence, including empowerment and resistance. Drawing on participant observer research with youth-oriented non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Palestine, as well as with Palestinian children in a West Bank refugee camp, this research seeks to better understand the role of international NGOs in producing particular forms of childhood political subjectivity, and how children themselves variously perform and transform such discursive constructions of Palestinian childhood.

Citation

Marshall, D. (2014). Save (us from) the children: trauma, Palestinian childhood, and the production of governable subjects. Children's Geographies, 12(3), 281-296. https://doi.org/10.1080/14733285.2014.922678

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date May 6, 2014
Publication Date Jun 4, 2014
Deposit Date Jun 16, 2015
Publicly Available Date Jun 18, 2015
Journal Children's Geographies
Print ISSN 1473-3285
Electronic ISSN 1473-3277
Publisher Taylor and Francis Group
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 12
Issue 3
Pages 281-296
DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/14733285.2014.922678
Keywords Humanitarian aid, Trauma, Risk, Resilience, Resistance, Palestine.
Public URL https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1403759

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