Disputas: Dag Henrik Tuastad

Dag Henrik Tuastad ved Sosialantropologisk institutt vil forsvare sin avhandling for graden ph.d. (philosophiae doctor): Primary Solidarity. A Comparative Study on the Role of Kinship in Palestinian Local Politics

Prøveforelesning

Tid: fredag 15. mai, kl. 09.15-10.00
Sted: Georg Sverdrups hus, auditorium 2

Oppgitt emne: "The impact of gender studies on kinship theory"

Bedømmelseskomité

 

Ordinære opponenter:
1. opponent: Professor Ted Swedenburg, Department of Anthropology, University of Arkansas.
2. opponent: Professor Ronald Stade, Peace and Conflict Studies, Malmø University.

Professor Sarah Lund, Sosialantropologisk institutt, Universitetet i Oslo, er koordinator og komiteens tredje medlem.

Leder av disputas:  Professor Arve Sørum

Veileder:  Geir Thomas Hylland Eriksen

Sammendrag

An idea repeatedly reproduced in research, analysis, and publications on Palestinian affairs, has been that internal strife – based on clan (hamula) organization, has been a main reason for Palestinians failing to obtain national goals. In the dissertation this idea is challenged.
In the history of Palestinian local politics, kinship has had a dual role it is shown in the study. On the one hand, there was the particularization of kinship – the role of vertical kinship organization sustained by rulers where selected lineages enjoyed powerful positions in the system of control. On the other hand, there was the communalization of kinship, where kinship served as the foundation of community organization and security. It appears, however, that although the particularizing role of kinship has been widely reported in analysis of Palestinian politics, the communalizing role of kinship has not been much referred to. Moreover, it is contended in the study that the role of kinship as part of the colonial divide and rule politics should be understood as related to a specific historical situation. Today, however, the government’s collaborators have been removed from power by other lineages. Nevertheless, scholars reproduce the imaginary of collaboration and co-optation as an enduring distinctive feature of the political role of the hamula as if this situation has not changed. It has.
Based on a comparative study from a Palestinian village in Northern Israel and a refugee camp in Gaza, the study shows that kinship groups are largely outside the neopatrimonial networks of wasta (political contacts). These kinship groups nevertheless represent invaluable social solidarity for their members, and also for local communities at large. If kinship solidarity was only particularistic, and if it weakened community solidarity, it would not have been reproduced. But the solidarity of the hamula transcends its base. The hamula is sustained because it provides social capital, moral capital, and political capital for marginalized people.

 

Publisert 7. mai 2009 11:21 - Sist endret 4. feb. 2014 09:15