Personalia
Luisa Gandolfo, born in Münster, Germany. Ph.D. from the University of Exeter, United Kingdom. Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Aberdeen.
EURIAS Fellow (1 September 2014 – 30 June 2015)
Confronting the Past, Saving the Future: Memory, Trauma in Palestinian and Israeli Art
Research Question
What is the role of artistic practices in addressing memory and trauma within Palestinian and Israeli narratives and in which ways can these hinder or facilitate peace?
Project Description
Since the events of 1948 – Independence for Israel, The Catastrophe for the Palestinians – the question of how to remember has been addressed both consciously and subconsciously. In the case of Israel, the history of the land and its people provided not only a shared identity prior to 1948, but one that would prove cohesive in the years following. In turn, art affords a repository for the intangible, at times overtly, at others with subtlety. Thus, the dual narratives that have shaped the region and its inhabitants have been sustained through mediums as diverse as embroidery and street art. This project explores the role of artistic practices in addressing memory and trauma within those narratives and the ways in which it can hinder or facilitate peace.
Selected Publications
1) Palestinians in Jordan: The Politics of Identity (London: I.B. Tauris) 2012
2) ‘The Political and Social Identities of the Palestinian Christian Diaspora in Jordan,’ Middle East Journal, Number 3, Summer 2008. pp. 437-455.
3) ‘Representations of Conflict: Images of War, Resistance, and Identity in Palestinian Art,’ Radical History Review, Winter 2010, Vol. 2010 No. 106. pp. 47-68.