Visualising Resistance and Assimilation:The Role of Artistic Expression and Architecture in Palestinian Refugee Identity in Jordan
Year: 2025
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: This paper examines the role of artistic expression in shaping notions of home and identity within Al Wehdat refugee camp, exploring how Palestinian refugees navigate the tensions between resistance and assimilation in displacement. Through murals and architectural adaptations, residents inscribe their collective memory, cultural heritage, and aspirations onto the built environment, transforming public and domestic spaces into sites of cultural continuity and defiance. Semi-structured interviews with long-term refugees reveal community-led initiatives that beautify shared spaces while reinforcing a sense of belonging in an environment marked by precarity. By integrating elements of both Palestinian and Jordanian heritage, these artistic interventions redefine domesticity within the camp, negotiating between permanence and transience. Ultimately, this study highlights how creative expression becomes a means of reclaiming agency, resisting erasure, and asserting identity in the face of displacement.
Author: Hamdan, Dana; id_orcid 0000-0001-8517-1957
Language: English
Topic: Migration and Exile Studies
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W6997315013
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