Rhoda Ann Kanaaneh is a Jean Monnet Fellow at the European University Institute's Robert Schuman Center for Advanced
Studies and the Mediterranean Programme.
Review
"Birthing the Nation provides the first serious and comprehensive treatment of an issue full of intense
meaning. Kanaaneh sets her unique study against a backdrop of Israeli political arithmetic, Palestinian subordination,
nationalism, gender culture, globalization and modernity. Women's bodies and reproductive potential are the sites
on which this demographic contest is played out. Therefore, this book has relevance and resonance far beyond the
ethnographic site."
--Julie Peteet, author of Gender in Crisis:Women and the Palestinian Resistance Movement
"This well-written and theoretically informed book remains faithful to the reality of the politics of reproduction
in Galilee-indeed to the reality of Galilee society. Throughout, the narrative rings true. Kanaaneh argues compellingly
and convincingly that understanding reproductive behavior clarifies how Palestinians within Israel negotiate the
tortured path of self-definition and definition."
--Rashid Khalidi, author of Palestinian Identity:The Construction of a Modern National Consciousness
Publisher Web Site, November, 2003
Summary
In this rich, evocative study, Rhoda Ann Kanaaneh examines the changing notions of sexuality, family, and reproduction
among Palestinians living in Israel. Distinguishing itself amid the media maelstrom that has homogenized Palestinians
as "terrorists," this important new work offers a complex, nuanced, and humanized depiction of a group
rendered invisible despite its substantial size, now accounting for nearly twenty percent of Israel's population.
Groundbreaking and thought-provoking, Birthing the Nation contextualizes the politics of reproduction within contemporary
issues affecting Palestinians, and places these issues against the backdrop of a dominant Israeli society.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1. Babies and Boundaries
Chapter 2. Luxurious Necessities
Chapter 3. Fertile Differences
Chapter 4. Modernizing the Body
Chapter 5. Son Preference
