Much has been written about the role the internet played during the Arab uprisings of 2011, with particular attention paid to social media, whether Facebook, Twitter or blogging, and the extent to which it contributed to organising the mass protests. Another recurring theme of the analysis of the uprisings was the role played by women, with Western media in particular emphasising their contributions and debating whether this marked a pronounced increase in women's agency. My article seeks to respond to these issues through an analysis of two Egyptian women's blogs. Instead of contributing to the well-known debate about the internet's capabilities for facilitating action, I examine how blogs observe resistance, exploring this through notions of digital testimony and autobiography. I then consider the issue of solidarity and whether this is gendered, which is an important issue to consider in light of the focus placed on women's roles during the protests. Ultimately I aim to demonstrate that these Egyptian women's blogs offer us new and productive ways of thinking about the role the internet played during the Arab uprisings and the autobiographical act, leading us to acknowledge the complexities of both solidarity and articulations of selfhood.
Sheikh Jarrah, a Palestinian neighbourhood of East Jerusalem, is considered by Israel as part of their state, and by Palestinians as under occupation. This contested locality is where Rema Hammami, a Palestinian anthropologist and writer, has lived for over 20 years, witnessing escalating Israeli control of the territory. Through an examination of Hammami's autobiographical essay, "Home and Exile in East Jerusalem" (2013), this article explores the effects of Israel's colonization of land on Hammami and her community as they struggle to protect their environment. It draws on a paradigm expressed by many critics (including Hammami) of Israeli tactics as a complex system of spatial control. It also assesses various assertions that the spatial politics of Palestine/Israel challenge temporality; in particular, the distinction between-and passage from-colonial to postcolonial. Overall, the article reiterates the relevance of spatial thinking for analysing the conflict and its contested localities, and demonstrates that such thinking is a productive way of reflecting on Palestinian life-writing.
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