Premium
The Civil Intifada: 1 The Power and Politics of the Palestinian Census
Author(s) -
Wilkins Karin Gwinn
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
development and change
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.267
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1467-7660
pISSN - 0012-155X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-7660.2004.00385.x
Subject(s) - census , sovereignty , context (archaeology) , state (computer science) , politics , sociology , agency (philosophy) , power (physics) , privilege (computing) , law , political economy , political science , social science , geography , population , computer science , physics , demography , archaeology , algorithm , quantum mechanics
The Palestinian census of December 1997 holds both symbolic power, grounding a national identity within an intended modern, sovereign structure, and instrumental value, serving as a basis for social and economic development. Some scholars privilege the role of domination in this enumeration process, imposing official categorizations on people for the purpose of state control. However, in this article I argue that the census also has the potential to promote resistance, contingent upon the nature of the agency implementing the process and the historical circumstances of the community engaged in this exercise. In this case, Palestinian and Israeli governments compete over the parameters of this research implementation, particularly within the confines of Jerusalem, recognized by each as its (intended and existing) capital. Based on personal interviews, official documents and secondary sources, I describe this process in relation to other attempts to articulate a Palestinian community, and characterize the census within the context of a Palestinian political struggle for sovereignty against a dominant Israeli state.