Yesterday evening, the DU Metaphysical Society came together to hear a paper titled “Palestinian women from Femina Sacra to agents of resistance”. The paper was written and delivered by the Israeli-Irish sociologist Dr Ronit Lentin, a Professor Emeritus of Sociology and Research Fellow at Trinity.
Dr Lentin opened began by telling the audience “I am not going to talk about metaphysics, but I am going to talk about philosophy”. For many who are not familiar with the Metaphysical Society, known as the Metafizz for short, the name may seem daunting. Dr Lentin’s point served as a reminder not only that metaphysics ought not to be the sole concern of philosophy, but also that it ought not to be the sole concern of the society.
After this and other opening remarks, Dr Lentin proceeded to contextualize the state of Israel by detailing its history as a settler colony. She described Zionism as a race project aimed to save the Jewish genetic pool, but noted that when one walks through Israel it is incredibly racially diverse. There are Ethiopian Jews as well as Jews with blond hair and blue eyes. Palestinians are constructed as racially different. From a black studies standpoint, black flesh is routinely created through whips, chains and knives. Lentin believes that Palestinian flesh is routinely created by tear gas, metal bullets, a military court system, torture, nails and extra-juridicial executions. She explained that to understand Palestine we have to understand embodied experience of race and gender.
Homo Sacer is the excluded being, one who can be killed without punishment. Lentin introduced the notion of the Femina Sacra which is the gendered version of this. Palestinian women experience oppression in gender-specific ways, and Lentin gave many examples of this. Israel targets the bodies of Palestinian women through harassment at checkpoints, eviction and sexual abuse as it is women who can give birth to the next generation and create potential for a majority in population. The highest ranking rabbi in the military said that raping Palestinian women is essential for war.
Lentin also stressed that Palestinian women are overlooked in their role in resisting the Israeli occupation. They do this through resisting house demolitions, the humiliating checkpoint regime. They sleep in their clothes so that when the military comes they are not sleeping without clothes on. Even getting their children to school is a dangerous act they do on a day-to-day basis. Due to the lack of gender-segregated schools, often girls end up not going to school. Women who do graduate gain more respect and authority in their communities and many of them deliver public lectures on health, physical and mental issues.
An extended Q&A session followed the talk. It was asked whether Zionism is necessarily gendered or was it historically contingent that Israel has such a machismo culture. Lentin replied that the Old Testament often stress a Jewish superiority. A lot of the sexism and racism stems from this, for example stigma against female Jews dating Arab men stems from an attempt to preserve genetic purity. When asked what she thought about the Palestinian armed resistance to the occupation, she said that she does not like for people to be killed, but that they have a right to resist the occupation.
Next week the Metafizz is having a Symposium on “The Symptom” with a panel of psychoanalysts at 7:30 in the JM Synge Theatre.
