There are spaces that are only thought of as metaphors for incarceration, but which are – both in... more There are spaces that are only thought of as metaphors for incarceration, but which are – both in design and lineage – actually intended as such. Gaza is often depicted as the largest open-air prison on earth, yet its confinement is more real than metaphoric. For much of its time under occupation, and especially since Israel’s unilateral withdrawal in 2005, Palestinians in Gaza have been living under a suffocating land, air and sea blockade. Yet, whilst many have written on Israel’s ‘politics of verticality’ (Weizman, 2002;2003;2007) – a three-dimensional spatial control that stretches from souterrain to airspace – relatively few have considered the more voluminous ‘politics of the sea’, especially in the context of settler-colonialism. Following a ‘wet ontology’ (Steinberg and Peters, 2015) this dissertation attempts to navigate these uncharted waters by going beyond terracentricism, and instead explore the nexus between politics (settler-colonialism) and space (the sea). By doing so, it seeks to demonstrate that the naval blockade of the Gaza Strip acts a powerful and effective site of confinement, but can also become a site of resistance, whether at the domestic or international level, or both. As Judith Butler (1997:100) puts it – “we can work the power relations by which we are worked”.
There are spaces that are only thought of as metaphors for incarceration, but which are – both in... more There are spaces that are only thought of as metaphors for incarceration, but which are – both in design and lineage – actually intended as such. Gaza is often depicted as the largest open-air prison on earth, yet its confinement is more real than metaphoric. For much of its time under occupation, and especially since Israel’s unilateral withdrawal in 2005, Palestinians in Gaza have been living under a suffocating land, air and sea blockade. Yet, whilst many have written on Israel’s ‘politics of verticality’ (Weizman, 2002;2003;2007) – a three-dimensional spatial control that stretches from souterrain to airspace – relatively few have considered the more voluminous ‘politics of the sea’, especially in the context of settler-colonialism. Following a ‘wet ontology’ (Steinberg and Peters, 2015) this dissertation attempts to navigate these uncharted waters by going beyond terracentricism, and instead explore the nexus between politics (settler-colonialism) and space (the sea). By doing so, it seeks to demonstrate that the naval blockade of the Gaza Strip acts a powerful and effective site of confinement, but can also become a site of resistance, whether at the domestic or international level, or both. As Judith Butler (1997:100) puts it – “we can work the power relations by which we are worked”.
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Drafts by Amira Djuric