Refugee Camp as Mediating Locality: Memory and Place in Protracted Exile

Abstract

Both in popular imagination and academic literature, refugees’ growing attachment to their place of residence in exile is understood to occur at the cost of their commitment to their place of origin. Based on a case study of Al-Amʻari, a Palestinian refugee camp in the West Bank, this chapter views the refugee camp as a mediating locality where the two seemingly conflicting spatial loyalties can be reconciled. It analyses residents’ efforts to preserve the refugee character of the camp community and redefine the nature of Al-Amʻari’s commemorative utterance in a prolonged, and continuing, exile. These efforts have allowed the site to maintain its symbolism and have framed the refugees’ attachment to the camp as an expression of their commitment to their place of origin.