The Common Camp: Architecture of Power and Resistance in Israel-Palestine

The book The Common Camp emphasizes the camp's role as a persistent political instrument in Israel-Palestine and beyond, exploring its networks of camps as a tool of colonial power and a makeshift space of resistance. It examines the architectural and political evolution of the camp as a modern instrument engaged by colonial and national powers, highlighting how spatial transience has become permanent in the ongoing story of this contested territory.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 376 pages
Publication date: 09 August 2022
Publisher: University of Minnesota Press

The Common Camp emphasizes the camp's enduring political significance in Israel-Palestine and beyond. By examining the geopolitical complexities of Israel-Palestine and the significant transformations it has undergone over the past century, this book delves into the extensive networks of camps that exist in the region, serving as both a tool of colonial power and a makeshift space of resistance.

Through a comprehensive analysis of various forms of camps created by and for Zionist settlers, Palestinian refugees, asylum seekers, and other groups, Irit Katz highlights how the camp serves as a common thread in shaping the lands and lives of subjects across the political spectrum. By examining the architectural and political evolution of the camp as a modern instrument wielded by colonial and national powers (as well as those opposing them), Katz provides a unique perspective on the dynamics of Israel-Palestine, emphasizing how spatial transience has become a permanent feature in the ongoing story of this contested territory.

The Common Camp offers a novel approach to the concept of the camp, detailing its diverse history as an apparatus used for population containment and territorial expansion, as well as a space of everyday life and subversive political action. By bringing together a wide range of historical and ethnographic materials within the context of this singular yet versatile entity, the book establishes the camp as the central element of modern societies and their continuous transformation.

Weight: 666g
Dimension: 179 x 254 x 23 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781517907174