1.4 Design and Structure

1.4 Design and Structure¶

My research aims to understand how settler-colonialism seeks to slowly erase Indigenous identity, agency, and episteme. Specifically, I demonstrate how Israel, as a settler-colonial state, employs slow-moving processes, such as dispossession, restricted movement, and cultural suppression, to dismantle Palestinian identity, agency, and episteme. This analysis unfolds across nine chapters, each building on the previous one to deepen the analysis of settler-colonial erasure and Indigenous resistance.

My dissertation begins (Chapter Two) by demonstrating that the ethnographic method, combining participant observation with interviews, is particularly well suited to studying the concept of slow erasure as it captures the lived experiences of Palestinians. I examine the methodological and ethical considerations underpinning my research on the slow erasure of Palestinian agency, identity, and episteme under Israeli settler-colonialism. In this chapter, I also engage deeply with critical social science and feminist methodologies, advocating for the further decolonisation of knowledge production and challenging hegemonic narratives. I reflect on the ethical challenges of working in conflict-affected environments, including the risks of retraumatisation, anonymity concerns, and the importance of informed consent. Furthermore, I discuss my positionality and acknowledge the complexities of conducting this research.

Chapter Three provides an overview of the historical events and power dynamics that have shaped the lives of Palestinians in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza. The chapter explores the ongoing impact of settler-colonialism and the complex interplay of forces exerted by Israel, the Palestinian Authority, and Hamas. This context sets the stage for understanding the subsequent analysis of how Palestinians are subjugated and subjected to violence within the framework of the settler-colonial matrix.

In Chapter Four, I draw on Raphael Lemkin’s concept of cultural genocide and Pauline Wakeham’s work on genocide by attrition in settler-colonialism to introduce the core concept of this dissertation: slow erasure, positioning it within the framework of settler-colonialism. I explore how sovereign and disciplinary mechanisms function in tandem to regulate Palestinian life and erode identity, agency and episteme through state violence, surveillance, and legal control. Building on the concept of necropolitics (Mbembe 2003)¹, I argue that control extends beyond life and death, shaping the grievability of bodies and the capacity to mourn.

In Chapter Five, I show how settler-colonialism enacts slow erasure by systematically targeting Palestinian identity, agency, and episteme through spatial, architectural, and counter-epistemic mechanisms. I examine this not only as a system of direct violence but as one that employs architectural, spatial, and epistemic mechanisms to erase Palestinian presence over time. Through my discussion of checkpoints, home demolitions, movement restrictions, and settler attacks, I illustrate how Palestinian bodies are controlled and constrained within militarised geographies. I also engage with epistemic violence, particularly in the destruction of cultural heritage and the erasure of Palestinian existence in educational curricula. I argue that these efforts are integral to the settler-colonial project, which seeks to replace Indigenous existence with a Zionist ethnostate.

Building on this analysis, in Chapter Six I shift focus from the spatial and epistemic dimensions of slow erasure to its embodied forms, examining how Israeli settler-colonial rule systematically targets Palestinians through maiming, killing, and the denial of medical care and burial rights. I argue that disabling Palestinians is not incidental but a deliberate strategy of control designed to instil fear, suppress resistance, and create dependency on the occupying power. Beyond bodily harm, I explore how the colonial state weaponises death, withholding corpses, restricting funerals, and criminalising mourning to extend its domination beyond life itself. Through testimonies and documented cases, I highlight how this serves as a mechanism of slow erasure.

In Chapter Seven, I turn to another critical site of colonial violence: the prison. I argue that incarceration functions not merely as a tool of punishment but as a central mechanism of settler-colonial control designed to dismantle Palestinian resistance, identity, and agency through torture, imprisonment, and the denial of care. The process of arrest, detention, and interrogation often extends beyond physical violence to psychological and sexual torture. I highlight how care itself is weaponised, with Palestinian prisoners denied medical treatment, sanitary products, and even the ability to relieve themselves, reinforcing their dehumanisation and subjugation. The methods of torture described are not solely about extracting information but about dismantling resistance and erasing Palestinian identity.

In Chapter Eight, I explore the ways in which Palestinians challenge the slow erasure imposed by the Israeli settler-colonial project, focusing on the concept of sumud. Sumud is a conscious and active form of resistance, encompassing daily acts of resistance, cultural preservation, and defiance against oppression. From the Murabitat defending Al-Aqsa to Palestinian prisoners transforming jails into centres of learning and resistance, sumud manifests in countless ways. Prisoners resist through hunger strikes, the smuggling of sperm, and defying restrictions on education, all of which challenge the mechanisms of control designed to erase Palestinian identity. These acts of defiance, whether small or large, illustrate the unyielding Palestinian determination to assert their agency despite systematic oppression.

Finally, in Chapter Nine I present my conclusions and thoughts on the dissertation and possible next steps.

References¶

Mbembe, Achille. 2003. "Necropolitics." Translated by Libby Meintjes. Public Culture 15 (1): 11--40. ↩