Palestinian Futurisms: A no-state (re)solution, and other new imaginaries

Abstract

This thesis aims to identify and describe a genre of futurist art and literature produced transnationally by Palestinian artists and writers following the end of the Second Intifada in 2005. Using first-hand interviews with seven contemporary Palestinian artists from around the world who are producing speculative and future-oriented work, I argue that contemporary Palestinian futurist art is characterized broadly by the dismantling of space and time, which produces an entire collapse of reality. This reflects the increasingly fragmented reality in which Palestinians live. Taken together, these works surveyed in this paper challenge the nation-state as a paradigm for liberation, breaking open necessary space for post-national visions of Palestinian liberation. The thesis gives attention to the artistic and political context out of which these works have arisen in order to illuminate the important role played by Palestinian futurist art in transforming Palestinian national imaginaries beyond the boundaries of the nation-state, offering new conceptions of Palestinian identity.