A Palestinian Refugee Woman Narrative

A Palestinian Refugee Woman Narrative

                                

Sadek Firwana

Islamic University Gaza, Palestine                                      

Akram Habeeb

            Islamic University Gaza, Palestine

Abstract

This paper aims to shed light on the extent of Palestinian refugee women's suffering they have gone through since the massive expulsion of the Palestinian people out of their land in 1948. Accordingly, the purpose of the study was to identify the different themes and concerns encoded in the narrative of a Palestinian refugee woman named Zwaida. In order to attain this purpose, the researchers applied content analysis on an authentic narrative account told by this woman. The study attempted to answer two main questions. The first question was concerned with the validity of the account of that refugee woman, and the second question concentrated on the kinds of themes encoded in such an authentic narrative. To answer these questions, the researchers used the methodology based on a single qualitative content analysis and data collection gathered from an unstructured interview. The outcome of the analysis revealed the extent of suffering those refugee women went through after their displacement; in addition, it revealed that a woman like Zwaida had to vacillate between two concerns; the first one national, while the other personal. Finally, the researchers recommended that a further analysis of refugee women’s narrative be conducted in order to reach certain conclusions that help the world better understand the Palestinian ordeal.

Keywords: refugee woman – narrative – content analysis – double consciousness