Author ORCID Identifier
Emily McKee: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5494-4873
Document Type
Article
Publication Title
Antipode
Abstract
Through ethnographic and historical analysis of the Negev region of Israel, this article examines competitive planting as a common tool in land conflicts. In a context of disputed land ownership, some Bedouin Arab residents plant crops in defiance of government policy. Government enforcers of land-use regulations destroy many of these crops and engage in counterinsurgent tree-planting. I suggest that planting is such a potent tactic because it draws on “environmental idioms” of agricultural labor, the rootedness of trees, and a fundamental Jewish-Arab opposition that have been central to the development of both Israeli and Palestinian nationalisms. For Bedouin Arabs, whose relationship to both nationalisms has long been contested, the multivalent symbolism of planting makes it a particularly promising tactic for asserting land claims. Further, I contend that these plantings demonstrate both the power of environmental idioms to structure land claims along ethnic lines and the creative potential of participants to challenge dominant environmental discourses by adding new connotations.
First Page
1172
Last Page
1189
DOI
10.1111/anti.12013
Publication Date
2014
Recommended Citation
2014. “Performing Rootedness in the Negev/Naqab: Possibilities and Perils of Competitive Planting.” Antipode46 (5): 1172–89. https://doi.org/10.1111/anti.12013.
Original Citation
2014. “Performing Rootedness in the Negev/Naqab: Possibilities and Perils of Competitive Planting.” Antipode46 (5): 1172–89. https://doi.org/10.1111/anti.12013.
Department
Department of Anthropology
Comments
"This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: 2014. “Performing Rootedness in the Negev/Naqab: Possibilities and Perils of Competitive Planting.” Antipode46 (5): 1172–89, which has been published in final form athttps://doi.org/10.1111/anti.12013. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions. This article may not be enhanced, enriched or otherwise transformed into a derivative work, without express permission from Wiley or by statutory rights under applicable legislation. Copyright notices must not be removed, obscured or modified. The article must be linked to Wiley’s version of record on Wiley Online Library and any embedding, framing or otherwise making available the article or pages thereof by third parties from platforms, services and websites other than Wiley Online Library must be prohibited.