In this assignment/forum we turn to Ghassan Kanafani's 1969 novella "Returning to Haifa," from his collection Palestine's Children: Returning to Haifa & Other Stories. This novella provides us with an excellent example through which to consider identity from both Israeli/Palestinian and Arab/Jewish perspectives.
While you are reading this novella it is important to refer to the notes at the end for further contextualization. Think carefully on issues of exile, belonging, home, nation, memory, and history while considering the representation of identity and how it can change and shift.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO9FjpTL3Q
In this post, write a compelling analysis of Kanafani's novella in consideration of the following questions:
- How does identity shift in this novella for Khaldun/Dov? What are the primary factors that cause this shift in his identity?
- How does Kanafani's novella establish very tenuous understandings of belonging, exile, identity, home, and/or nation?
- How has this novella caused you to think differently about Israeli/Palestinian and Arab/Jewish formations of identity? Bear in mind such issues as human experience, memory, and history.
- How does the BBC documentary further stress this very illusory sense of Palestinian identity in considerations on "home" and "belonging" and degrees of "looking" and "searching" for Palestine?
Sample Solution