Translating global indigeneity into the Bedouin vernacular

Emma Nyhan*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

This article explores how global indigeneity emerged among the Bedouin in the Israeli Negev Desert. This population - part of the Palestinian Arab minority and holders of Israeli citizenship - has been subjected to various attempts at settlement and, since the establishment of Israel, has experienced dispossession through denial of recognition of land title. Yet the appropriation of indigeneity remains quite recent, and has brought with it new complications and frictions as an identity consecrated in international law. This transnational socio-legal study traces how global indigeneity has been remade in the Bedouin vernacular. Working with Sally Merry's heuristic framework concerning how rights-based identities travel and translate, this study demonstrates how identities do not simply fit a preexisting reality but must be ‘translated' and ‘tried on’ in ways that demand new kinds of knowledge production and performances.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)415-441
Number of pages27
JournalTransnational Legal Theory
Volume12
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2021
Externally publishedYes

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