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Accepted Paper:
Sisterhoods and Kitchens: The Refugee Women Guarding Indigenous Palestinian knowledge in Bourj Albarajenah Refugee Camp
Yafa El Masri
(University of Durham)
This paper aims to explore the role of displaced indigenous Palestinian sisterhoods in decolonizing knowledge and protecting collective memory through cooking and food sharing in Bourj Albarajenah refugee camp in Beirut
Paper long abstract:
Throughout history, women have moved in groups to protect social and ecological entities. Bell Hooks (1986) has defined this solidarity as “sisterhood”: a sustainable form of support among women. This paper aims to explore the role of displaced indigenous sisterhoods in decolonizing knowledge and protecting collective memory through cooking and food sharing. Through auto-ethnographic recordings of being brought up in a sisterhood in Bourj Albarajenah refugee camp in Beirut, I intend to explore the mode in which Palestinian refugee women used the process of making food as a tool of strengthening community cohesion and asserting rights to the land. The creation of links between the human and non-human dimension through practices of food making will be introduced to criticize the colonial version of the story of the displacement of Palestinians from their lands. Insights will be gained to understand the role of food in decolonizing knowledge while stressing the gendered contribution of refugees to guarding indigenous heritage