“Sumud is to Always be One Hand”: Culturally Informed Resilience Among Palestinian Refugee Men in Lebanon.
Rami Rmeileh
Submitted as master thesis at the Department of Psychology, University of Oslo Summer semester 2021
Primary supervisor: Prof. Thomas Schubert, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo
Secondary supervisors: Prof. Alan P. Fiske, University of California, Los Angeles, and Associate Prof. Guro Brokke Omland Department of Psychology, University of Oslo
Word count: 13, 550 Date of submission: 02/07/2021
Statement: This master thesis project is submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the European Master in the Psychology of Global Mobility, Inclusion and Diversity in Society.
Abstract
Communities that are affected by significant traumatic events often see their
sociopolitical conditions changed massively. Nevertheless, their shared history of traumatic experiences can bind the community members together. It paves the way for an innovative social-ecological strategy to cope with prolonged adversity. This research offers an insight into the Palestinian diaspora, who’s been living in refugee camps for more than 73 years, and attempts to investigate Sumud (steadfastness), a widely shared and famous concept in the community. This study seeks to provide an insider’s perspective on the experience of Sumud by utilizing a qualitative method, and an Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) to explore eight interviews conducted with young Palestinian refugee men living in Burj Barajneh camp.
Four analytical questions guided the analysis and explored how Sumud is described, enacted, and sustained. The findings revealed that Sumud is a complex, multilayered construct that seems to float in time and space, it is a goal-oriented temporal construct, in which participants describe a paradoxical engagement and highlight one of its core aspects, “being one hand” which refers to Sumud’s communal feature. Moreover, other themes revealed that Sumud is enacted through individual acts and social practices embedded in their cultural and social context. Finally, the analysis shows that Sumud is sustained through stories, cultural and national artifacts and induces a common positive emotion. The findings of this research are discussed in terms of the broader literature on collective trauma, resilience, and collective emotions.
Keywords: Sumud, collective resilience, collective trauma, collective emotions, indigenous constructs
Author’s Declaration
I declare that this thesis has been composed solely by myself and that it has not been submitted, in whole or in part, in any previous application for a degree. Except where states otherwise by reference or acknowledgment, the work presented is entirely my own.
Guadalajara, 05.07.2020
Acknowledgment
I always heard my uncles blaming my grandfather for not letting them leave the camp. He never wanted to leave the camp either. I never understood it until today. It was Sumud. It took me two years of unintended research to get the answer. He would’ve been called a traitor, hypocrite, a fighter that preaches about Sumud and ends up sending his kids abroad. A fighter that preaches about resistance and yet surrenders and gives up on the camp. Grandpa, I now acknowledge your sacrifices, and I dedicate this to you.
To my grandfather, who has been fighting for existence, for a stolen land, for dignity, human rights, climate justice, feminism, and all the “ism’s” before they turned trendy. To my grandfather, whose fight went unpronounced, a fight that is not featured in books, and written out of history, a fight of the “just” ordinary, fighting to exist. I want to thank you and my
grandmother. Despite all the hate, misery, and injustice you endured, you were able to give more love and plant in me the values of social justice and coexistence that I travel with today.
Furthermore, I would like to thank the Erasmus+ Programme for this rewarding opportunity to study the Global-MINDS joint master’s degree on a scholarship. I’m forever grateful for the experience I made, the friends I met, and the competence and knowledge I gained. I want to also thank my thesis supervisor prof. Thomas Schubert for all his support throughout the last two years. I’m greatly indebted, and forever thankful, I learned a lot from you. I would also like to thank Associate Prof. Guro Omland for her tremendous support and for sharing her expertise in qualitative methods, and Prof Alan Fiske for his insightful comments since the beginning of the project. Finally, I would like to thank all of the participants who offered their time and contributions. I couldn’t have done it without you.
Content
Abstract 2
Author’s Declaration 3
Acknowledgment 4
Content 5
Introduction 7
Making Meaning of Trauma and Social Identity 9
Collective Memory 10
Historical and Cultural Continuity 10
Community Resilience 11
Collective Emotions 12
Sumud as a Socio-ecological Source of Resilience 13
The Current Study 15
Positionality 16
Methods 17
Ontological and Epistemological Stance 17
Participants 18
Procedure 21
The Interviews 22
Ethical Considerations 23
Analytical Process 24
Reflexivity 27
Trustworthiness and Quality 28
Exploring the Experience of Sumud 29
How do They Describe Their Everyday Life? 30
Life is Getting Tough in a Slow Pace 30
What seems to constitute Sumud in the researched context? 31
Theme 1. Sumud as a goal oriented temporal construct 31
Subtheme 1.1. Group goals: Group survival until return and liberation. 32 Subtheme 1.2. Individual sub goals: Individual Survival – despite. 33 Theme 2. Paradoxical engagement in Sumud: A sense of obligation and at the same time as a choice
35
Theme 3. Sumud is “Being one hand” 37 How is Sumud Enacted in the Participants’ Everyday Life? 38 Theme 1. Individual Enactment: An Extraordinary Effort to Attain and Achieve Despite Hardship 39 Theme 2. Collective Enactment: Maintaining Communal Sharing, and Cultural Continuity 41
How is it Sustained? How do they Engage in Communicating it? 45
Theme 1. Sustaining Sumud Through Stories Ranging from Horrific to Heroic Deeds 45 Theme 2. Sustaining Sumud Through Cultural and National Artifacts that are Prevalent in Daily
Life 47
Theme 3. Sustaining Sumud Through Common Positive Emotions 49
Summary of the Findings 54
Discussion 58
Sumud’s Emotional Orientation as a Source of Resilience 58
Possible Psycho-social Interventions 61
Limitations 62
Future research 63
Conclusion 65
References 65
Appendices 75
Appendix A 75
Appendix B 77
Appendix C 78
Appendix D 81
Introduction
Throughout history, several indigenous communities have experienced severe traumatic and complex stressors due to a traumatic event that happened in the past and affected the whole group. This is true for instance for the Palestinians (Khalidi, 2005; Masalha, 2012; Morris, 1986;
Pappe, 2006); the Australian Aboriginal first nations (Harkness, 1993); the indigenous peoples of North America (Bombay, Matheson, & Anisman, 2009; Duran, Duran, & Maria Yellow Horse, 1998; Yellow & Brave, 2000); and the Armenian (Kupelian, Kalayjian, & Kassabian, 1998); and Jewish community (Yehuda, Schmeidler, Wainberg, Binder-Byrnes, & Duvdevani, 1998). This collective experience is often labeled as collective trauma. It is transmitted across generations in cultural rituals, community events, and family narratives (Brave Heart, 2003; Tcholakian, Khapova, van de Loo, & Lehman, 2019).
This transfer of burdens or historical experiences from one generation to another is referred to as transgenerational (Bohleber, 2000; Radebold, 2008) or trans-generatively (Leuzinger-Bohleber, 2003). These terms provide reflections and elaborations of the atrocities that the group ancestors endured (Volkan, 1998). However, patterns of trauma communication remain culturally and contextually embedded and depend on various elements to yield adaptive qualities (Measham & Rousseau, 2010). They are embedded in family stories, rituals and commemoration events. This transfer of historical experiences during these events shape one’s identity and facilitate a collective response that promotes resilience and wellbeing (Beukian &
Graff-McRae, 2018). Research shows that transgenerational disclosure of trauma communication is seen as a healing mechanism, especially among 2nd and 3rd generations that didn’t have direct
exposure to the traumatic event (Braga, Mello, & Fiks, 2012; Giladi & Bell, 2013; Sorcher &
Cohen, 1997; Wiseman et al., 2002). While the concealment of trauma which was prevalent among the holocaust survivors and was known as “conspiracy of silence”, have had negative psychopathological consequences on the families of holocaust survivors (Braga, Mello, & Fiks, 2012; Fromm, 2011; Giladi & Bell, 2013; Lichtman, 1984; Sorscher & Cohen, 1997).
Communities that are affected by significant traumatic events often see their sociopolitical conditions changed massively. Nevertheless, this shared history of traumatic experiences can bind the community members together. It paves the way for an innovative social-ecological strategy to cope with prolonged adversity. Recent research has started to shed light on the constructs and strategies that communities create in times of adversities. These constructs promoted resilience, a connection to cultural heritage, fortitude, and hope in the context of adversity, structural inequalities, extreme poverty and political conflict (Hammad &
Tribe, 2020). This can be seen in Ruwanda (Zraly & Nyirazinyoye, 2010), Afghanistan
(Eggerman & Panter-Brick, 2010), South America (McManus & Schlabach, 1991), South Africa (van Breda, 2018; Theron, 2007), and Palestine (Rijke & van Teeffelen, 2014). Ultimately, I am specifically interested in exploring the strategy that the Palestinian community have developed.
One aspect of this strategy is the construct of Sumud (steadfastness) and the practices around it.
Sumud literally means “steadfastness”; it expresses strength and commitment in defense of the Palestinian cause by staying committed to national rights, clinging to the land, and finding ways to survive and thrive despite the occupation, chronic adversity, and severe socioeconomic circumstances (Marie, 2015; Marie, Hannigan, & Jones, 2018; Rijke & van Teeffelen, 2014;
Ryan, 2015; Schiocchet, 2011). In the Palestinian context, the community’s history and events have specific sociopolitical terms that are involved in shaping the collective identity and
orientation (e.g. Al-Nakba and the right of return). Research shows that such terms may elicit beliefs, reaction patterns, and a specific emotion (Sa’di & Abu Loghod, 2007). The Palestinians in the camp engage in what is referred to as collective self-healing, acts carried by society to reduce grief, pain, and suffering (Nets & Bar-Tal, in press). For instance, participating in demonstrations and rituals can predict a positive emotional climate and be conceived as a communal form of coping (Rimé, Páez, Basabe, & Martínez, 2010).
The present study investigates the phenomena of Sumud in relation to collective resilience, by interviewing eight young Palestinian refugee men living in a refugee camp in Lebanon. This study looks closely at the experience of Sumud as lived and described by the participants and attempts to make sense and meaning from those experiences. A qualitative method is utilized, blending aspects of Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) to explore the following research question: How do young Palestinian refugee men from Burj Barajneh camp experience Sumud in their daily lives, and how can these experiences inform the understanding of collective resilience?
Making Meaning of Trauma and Social Identity
Societies that share common past experiences engage in a constant collective meaning- making process to make sense of their present. They engage in a collective effort of finding goals, values, and a sense of efficacy that helps them endure their hardship. In this process, a national narrative and a collective identity are created. The collective identity following the collective traumatic event or events may facilitate the construction of social identity, including its purpose, values, efficacy, and collective worth (Vignoles et al., 2006). With time, the effect of trauma on collective identity increases and shifts from focusing on the loss to the future-oriented
goals derived as lessons learned from the trauma. This way, the collective memory of the trauma becomes incorporated in the community's collective identity and becomes transgenerational (Klar et al., 2013). Such a narrative tries to ensure the group's safety from present and future existential threats (Bar-Tal and Antebi, 1992; Hirschberger et al., 2017). Accordingly, collective memory and collective continuity principles may help us further understand the constructs that societies develop to cope with collective adversities. This paper relies on these principles to trace and unpack the process that communities undergo following a traumatic historical event to arrive at community resilience.
Collective Memory
Collective memory plays a role in preserving a positive collective identity (Tajfel and Turner, 1979) and a sense of worth (Vignoles et al., 2006), group cohesion (Baumeister and Vohs, 2002; Heine et al., 2006), and the affiliation that emphasizes a feeling of shared fate and destiny (Gillies and Neimeyer, 2006). In his recent work on collective trauma and the social construction of meaning, Hirschberger (2018, p. 4) points out that “the memory of trauma and the existential threat that is inherent to it motivate a desire to construct meaning around the experience of extreme adversity.”. The outcome of collective memory and trauma plays a role in the identity construction of a transgenerational collective self that provides a sense of historical and cultural continuity that includes past, present, and future members and events of the group (Kahn et al., 2017).
Historical and Cultural Continuity
Perceived collective continuity includes two dimensions, cultural continuity, and historical continuity. Cultural continuity refers to values, beliefs, and traditions that the group connects to and which it regards as essential and vital to be transmitted across generations.
Historical continuity refers to the coherent narrative incorporated into the group's current identity, which includes previous generations and events that are seen as interlinked (Sani et al., 2007, 2009). Both perceived cultural and historical continuity urges the group members to maintain the survival and continuity of those elements, promoting a common destiny and belonging to one's community (Hirschberger, 2018). The trauma, in this case, is incorporated within the group's continuity as a learned lesson. The process of meaning-making these communities go through shifts the focus from loss to lessons learned that ensures the group's survival in the future (Klar et al., 2013). Disrupting that sense of historical continuity or choosing silence over disclosure of trauma might disrupt the community's social fabric (Saul, 2006).Initial evidence shows that collective continuity yields positive effects on one's social wellbeing
(Chandler et al. 2003; Cozzarelli & Karafa, 1998). Such findings and approach allow us to start looking at collectively traumatized communities from the lens of community resilience, rather than focusing exclusively on psychopathology and adverse outcomes of collective trauma.
Community Resilience
Community resilience is “a community’s capacity, hope and faith to withstand major trauma and loss, overcome adversity, and to prevail, usually with increased resources, competence, and connectedness” (Landau & Saul, 2004, p. 286). Researchers in community resilience call upon a multi-systemic, contextual approach to understand resilience within a given communal context (Ungar, 2004, 2008; Ungar & Liebenberg, 2011; Walsh, 2002). This includes identifying belief systems, relational networks, and resources confined within a specific context.
Furthermore, resilience is facilitated within communities through the meaning-making process they engage in, transforming the experience from negative into a more positive outlook and positive communication, collaboration, community cohesion, and existing institutional resources.
(Walsh, 2007). Recent work on the socio-ecological sources of resilience is growing, moving from the western notion that focuses on the individuals to focus on communities. Such studies highlight the meaning-making process these communities pass through to arrive at a sense of coherence and strength after tragedy (Bava & Levin, 2007a, 2007b; Project Resiliency 2008;
Saul, 1999; Saul, Ukshini, Blyta & Statovci, 2003). This work typically focuses on the
“embodied knowledge” (Taylor, 2003) that communities carry after massive loss and stress, a knowledge that shapes one’s everyday experience. This knowledge is transformed into action, manifested in communal performances, rituals, and social activities to respond to the trauma (Agger & Jensen, 1990; Fullilove, 2002; Reisner, 1998, 2003; Taylor, 2003; van der Kolk, 2006).
Collective Emotions
Part of the collective trauma and its cultural construal are emotions, which also can be seen as transmitted to the next generations (Dalgaard & Montgomery, 2015). Previous studies suggest that emotions are socially and culturally constructed (Barrett, 2014; Mesquita & Boiger, 2014). Therefore, they can be considered specific to a social and cultural context and shall be interpreted contextually.
An emotion is experienced in a coordinated manner, and it is made up of a set of components that includes: an elicitor, bodily reactions, affect, expression and labels and an action tendency or motivation (Fiske, Seibt, & Schubert, 2019). Moreover, community members may also share emotions and are termed collective emotions (Barsade, 2002; Barsade & Gibson, 2012). Those shared emotions can be seen as a society’s response to its sociopolitical conditions (Bar-Tal, 2001; Bar-tal et al., 2007). With time, society creates various elicitors embedded in
cultural products (e.g., literature, films, paintings) that refer to a particular emotion and beliefs that evoke it (Bar-Tal, 2001a). Those beliefs are channeled through education, institutions, media, and ceremonies. This development can lead to a collective emotional orientation that characterizes a society and can be considered related to underlying social structure and political programs (De Rivera, 1992).
The emotional climate and collective emotional orientation are part of the lens through which group members interpret conflictive or peaceful events (Bar-tal et al., 2007). Accordingly, collective emotions can be seen as adaptations developed by communities in processes of
cultural evolution (Fiske, Seibt, & Schubert, 2019). One promising emotional candidate in social and communal settings is kama muta, which is a hypothetical emotion defined as the ‘sudden feeling of love, belonging, or union’ (Zickfeld, Schubert, & Fiske, 2019). It is evoked by the sudden intensification of communal sharing that could be prevalent in commemoration events or other community events that collectively traumatized communities perform. Researchers
hypothesize that the core function of such cultural practices, artefacts, institutions, narratives, and arts is to evoke kama muta, which includes a motivational aspect that aims to strengthen, repair, and sustain the communal sharing relationship (Fiske, Seibt, & Schubert, 2019).
Accordingly, the motivational component of the kama muta emotion is possibly linked to the Sumud construct we plan to explore.
Sumud as a Socio-ecological Source of Resilience
Sumud in literal meaning is “steadfastness”; it expresses strength and commitment in defense of the Palestinian cause by staying committed to national rights, clinging to the land, and finding ways to survive and thrive despite the occupation, chronic adversity, and severe
socioeconomic circumstances (Marie, 2015; Marie, Hannigan, & Jones, 2018; Rijke & van Teeffelen, 2014; Ryan, 2015; Schiocchet, 2011). The sumud concept dates back to the British mandate time and was then promoted again in 1978 by the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) as a national concept and strategy to preserve identity and restore dignity in national liberty struggle (Marie, Hannigan, & Jones, 2018). However, nowadays there is no consensus nor common understanding of Sumud, an area that remains under-researched. When moving through the literature, we find previous scholars referring to Sumud as a Palestinian idea (Marie,
Hannigan, & Jones, 2018), national concept (Rijke & van Teeffelen, 2014), collective Palestinian consciousness (Rijke & van Teeffelen, 2014), cultural concept (Marie, Hannigan, & Jones, 2018), and often associate it with collective resilience (Bourbeau & Ryan, 2018; Nguyen
Gillham, Giacaman, Naser, & Boyce, 2008; Ryan, 2015), ideological theme and political strategy (Schiocchet, 2011), non-violent resistance (Scott, 1985; Allen, 2009; Richter-devroe, 2013), and relationship building and unity (Zoughbi, 2009).
Sumud’s diversity of meanings make it almost impossible to develop a strong common definition – even though the concept has a “feel” that is directly recognizable to Palestinians (Rijke & van Teeffelen, 2014). While there is already some research done on the concept of Sumud, it was mostly done as an analysis of resistance during an ongoing collective
trauma/occupation (Marie, 2015; Marie, Hannigan, & Jones, 2018; Rijke & van Teeffelen, 2014;
Ryan, 2015; Schiocchet, 2011). This research offers to look at Sumud as a far more intricate and complex way of dealing with the Palestinian refugee reality (see, e.g., Allen, 2009; Richter- devroe, 2013). A recently published literature review of Sumud, Hamad, and tribe (2020) found out that while the majority of studies used a qualitative approach (interviews- FGD), most Studies done on Sumud lacked details on their methodology and focused on the occupied
Palestinian territories, leaving out Gaza and Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon. Moreover, many studies focused on women's experience of exercising Sumud, which may vary from men's experiences (Hammad & Tribe, 2020).
The Current Study
The present study aims at investigating the phenomena of Sumud in the Palestinian diaspora, as this can broaden and nuance the existing literature on Sumud and its role in
collective resilience within this context. To fulfill this, the analysis focuses on investigating the lives and experiences of young Palestinian men in the diaspora. Previous studies pointed out the fluidity of Sumud (Hammad & Tribe, 2020b; Hammoudeh et al., 2016; Shalhoub-Kevorkian, 2014; Meari, 2014). However, to my knowledge this fluidity has not been explored among the Palestinian diaspora. In this study, I want to investigate the experience of Sumud through the personal and lived experience of third-generation Palestinian refugee men from Burj Barajneh camp. While this research is influenced by literature on collective trauma, community resilience, collective emotions, and Sumud literature, it is not guided by a specific hypothesis. A broad research question was constructed: How do young Palestinian refugee men from Burj Barajneh camp experience Sumud in their daily lives, and how can these experiences inform the
understanding of collective resilience? The principal aspect I wish to explore focuses on how they make meaning of Sumud by learning in-depth about their lives, hardships, and hopes. I also want to explore how and when they experience Sumud? And, what emotions underline the experience?
This research agenda falls under an umbrella of a growing body of literature that
highlights the role of cultural constructs and forms of resilience within collectively traumatized
communities instead of focusing on individual traits and failing to promote context and
communal values that communities share (e.g. Eggerman & Panter-Brick, 2010; Theron, 2007;
Zraly & Nyirazinyoye, 2010).
Positionality
I am a third-generation Palestinian refugee, born and raised in Burj Barajneh refugee camp in Lebanon. Having lived my life as a Palestinian refugee from Lebanon, I was always intrigued by the events shaping our everyday lives and how coping with adversities became an integral part of our daily reality. My background experience motivated me to work in various local and international humanitarian projects ranging from peacemaking and conflict prevention to policy research. Throughout all the previous projects I worked on, I have had an insider perspective advantage that allowed me to contribute positively by drawing questions and developing interventions bound to scientific methodology and application.
In this current project, my insider perspective was pronounced throughout the data collection process. For instance, I heard it often from the participants saying “you know” when talking about events that happened in the past, assuming that since I’m part of the camp
community, I know the event they are talking about, and often include me in the “We.” When referring to more recent events, the participants placed me as an outsider who doesn’t know.
However, they put effort into explaining in detail, as they perceived me as a temporary outsider.
Therefore, I see myself as a permanent insider and a temporary outsider that can thoroughly understand the camp’s context and translate this understanding and knowledge to a wider audience who are not part of the camp. Researchers doing interviews and field work often face practical challenges that derive from their identities, language barriers, and social and cultural
scripts (Moss et al., 2019). These problems were eased for me because of my belonging to the same cultural community. As a permanent insider, I have privileged access to the camp’s cultural products and participants from various backgrounds. I am familiar and sensitive to the camp’s social and cultural context which allows me to conduct this exploratory study without any unintended harm in all research stages. This includes the familiarity with the historical, societal, and political difficulties these communities passed through and are still passing through. Finally, as a temporary outsider, I have internalized more than one worldview, and hope I can
consciously shift into another perspective, a perspective that is bound to academic literature and objectivity.
Methods
Ontological and Epistemological Stance
Exploring Sumud within the Palestinian diaspora remains an under-researched field. As Sumud lies deeply in the particular context we wish to explore, a qualitative approach is deemed fit to explore new constructs (Charmaz, 2006). A qualitative method would allow us to consider the complex socio-cultural and political factors (Braun & Clarke, 2013), also recommended in decolonial and indigenous communities studies (Wendt & Gone, 2012). This method would allow for more flexibility in exploring the phenomena instead of limiting it to certain variables, as in quantitative research. Moreover, the data collected from interviews would allow an in-depth analysis of the phenomena. Our approach relies solely on how the participants talk and draw upon discourses about Sumud in their culture. At the same time, these shared patterns of meaning are used to map the constituents of Sumud. Therefore, this research follows a combination of phenomenological and hermeneutic insights, focusing on understanding participants' contributions within the context of their reality (Van Manen, 1990). It is
phenomenological insight because it allows for a systematic and attentive reflection on the participants' lived experience (Giorgi and Giorgi, 2003). Phenomenology considers the person as embodied in a particular social, cultural, and historical context, "embodied and embedded in the world" as Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, and Sartre refer to it (as cited in: Shinebourne, 2011, p. 18) The phenomenology insight allows the researcher to get closer to the meaning's participants attribute their experiences, followed by a hermeneutics insight which allows the researcher to interpret those meanings, contextualize them in reflection to relevant theoretical grounds, making it possible to link the findings to the psychological literature. Moreover, a hermeneutics insight in interpretation is dynamic and iterative and is double, where the participants try to make sense of the phenomena in their worlds, and the researcher also tries to make sense of the participants making sense (Smith, 1996). Therefore, the researcher must reflect on that process (see,
analytical process and reflexivity)
Finally, I acknowledge that there is no simple objective social reality in the world.
Therefore, as a researcher, I will approach my research topic by investigating how people make meaning of their worlds. Social and psychological phenomena are thus viewed as personally experienced and constructed, however, these phenomena are also embedded in the culture that evolved it. Therefore, mapping these experiences facilitates a sense of understanding of how this phenomenon is experienced within the given cultural and social context under study.
Participants
Participants in this study consist of young Palestinian refugee men living in Burj
Barajneh camp, who are between the age of 18-30 years old and actively engage and participate in youth groups and social activities, such as sports, traditional dances, and creative arts groups
or part of a political faction or still pursuing their education. Such detailed description of who was targeted for the interviews is referred to as purposive sampling and not representative of all young Palestinian men living in Burj Barajneh camp. As I aimed to explore Sumud, previous literature guided me in choosing a sample that might give us deeper insights into the phenomena.
We chose to focus on third-generation Palestinian refugees as their experience might differ from those who lived through previous wars and atrocities - a sample that remains overlooked since studies focus on first-generation and second-generation who lived al-Nakba and the war of the camps. Secondly, many studies focused on women’s experience of exercising Sumud (Hammad
& Tribe, 2020), which may vary from men’s experiences. Also, previous studies found out that Sumud referred to attaining education (Hammad & Tribe, 2020b); adaptive responses, enduring relationships (Ryan, 2015) exercising human care (Hammad & Tribe, 2020b; Rijke & van Teeffelen, 2014; Simaan, 2017). Therefore, our purposive sampling targeted those who continue their education and are involved in social or political activities, allowing privileged access inside the lives of those who experience Sumud. Moreover, I chose to conduct my research in Burj Barajneh camp for questions of access, and the familiarity of the significant historical events the camp endured. Snowballing sampling was also used to avoid homogeneity or recruiting
participants that I might know.
The participants in this study consist of eight Palestinian men aged between 18-30 years who were recruited through announcements (see, Appendix B) on social media forums used by Palestinian groups in Lebanon and Burj Barajneh in particular. Moreover, gatekeepers who have contacts with young men living in the camp were also contacted. The sample consisted of a diverse group with different levels of education, occupation, and political affiliation (Table 1).
The participant’s occupations varied from working in the cultural and educational sector to
working in political and other organization management projects. Moreover, the participant’s education field didn’t necessarily match their current occupations. Their majors varied from arts to business and accounting studies.
Table 1
Participant’s Demographics
Participant Age Highest level of
education
Political affiliation
Social activities
Ahmad 24 Bachelor's degree Yes National events
organization
Mohammad 24 Bachelor’s degree Yes Sport activities
Ali 26 Bachelor’s degree No Humanitarian work
Omar 26 Technical degree No Volunteer in multiple
associations and NGOs.
Kamal 21 Bachelor’s degree Yes Humanitarian work
Karim 30 Bachelor's degree No Cultural, humanitarian, educational and social programs.
Hilal 29 Bachelor’s degree No Cultural, humanitarian,
educational and social programs.
Ghassan
20
Technical degree
Yes
Volunteer in multiple humanitarian projects
Note. Participants were given fictive names to ensure anonymity.
Procedure
Recruited participants reached out to the main researcher after the announcements were published across various social media platforms. Potential participants were briefed on the purpose of the study and the interview procedure, and I responded to their data privacy concerns.
After the briefing, an information letter was translated and sent in both languages to the participants via Nettskjema (see, Appendix D). All participants who conducted the interview were given time to ask questions regarding the information letter. Moreover, the participants were informed before the interview about their wish to receive a mapping service of NGOs offering mental health and psycho-social support if it was needed. The interviews lasted between 45 and 90 minutes. They were conducted via Zoom on a computer administered by the
University of Oslo (UiO) to ensure the data is not stored on my personal computer. All
interviews were videotaped and transcribed using TSD (a platform for researchers at UiO to collect, store and analyze sensitive research data in a secure environment).
The Interviews
I chose to conduct semi-structured interviews instead of focused group discussions since participants may report desirable responses, mainly as Sumud is a desired state and is culturally and nationally promoted. Semi-structured interviews are also helpful in getting into the
participant's life and get closer to understanding how they experience and describe the
phenomena and avoid oversimplifying complex processes. An interview guide was developed that emphasized "areas of inquiry" consistent with the research questions and aims
(Charmaz,2006) The interview aimed to acquire a good grasp of the participant's lives: What does their everyday lives look like? What are the adverse events as they experience them? An interview guide (see, Appendix C) was developed to ensure the participants engage in a
conversation in which they told me more about their hardships, hopes, and everyday lives. The interview contained areas of inquiry that facilitated the generation of knowledge. All interviews were conducted in Arabic, then transcribed in English.
Areas of Inquiry
Background Information (see, appendix A for contextual background)
The interview questions start with familiarizing myself with the participant background, where I engage in a conversation about their background and their daily lives, in which they tell me more in-depth about their hardships, and hopes; as an example, a grasp on the day before the
interview; what did they experience as challenging and how did they gather resources to develop a sense of hope and direction?
Sumud Meaning and Role
The second section tapped on Sumud as understood, described, and explained by the participants.
Context
Description of when they experience it; the conversation I engaged with the participants allowed me as a researcher "to be there," to get a detailed description of, when, where, with and with who?
Manifestation and Strongest Sumud Moment
In the last section, the participants were asked to reflect on the strongest Sumud moments, as an attempt to get a grasp on the experience, moving from the macro (context) to the micro
(manifestation), as experienced subjectively by the participant and the effect/motivational outcome it has. Finally, participants were asked to reflect on the interview and describe with their own words (e.g, how would you define Sumud to someone who is not familiar with the term?)
Ethical Considerations
Since our research tackles a construct that taps on hardships and other traumatic experiences, I thought thoroughly about how I can as a researcher conducting the interviews assist the participants in case negative emotional reactions or traumatic experience was triggered.
As I worked previously in Mental health and psychosocial support, I had access to a mapping service that is open to the public that I could share with the participants when they request it.
This approach allowed me to connect the participants with the nearest NGO offering services regardless of their location in Lebanon and my location. However, none of the participants reported any negative outcome, on the contrary they were happy to share their experience and
they mentioned that sharing their stories helped them reinforce their Sumud, which is also in line with previous findings (Teeffelen and Biggs, 2011).
Participants were also briefed about their right to withdraw at any time, and on how the data would be managed assuring anonymity. All the videotaped data was recorded on a
university laptop and stored safely on specially secured server for sensitive data, TSD (https://www.uio.no/tjenester/it/forskning/sensitiv/). Transcription was done as soon as the interviews were done and were deleted immediately afterwards. None of the participants can be identified in our data, as they were given fictive names.
As I had an interview protocol that leans toward more openness and not closed in nature, I acknowledged that sensitive data might arise. Therefore, the study was approved by the Internal Review Board of the Department of Psychology at the University of Oslo and the Norsk senter for forskningsdata (NSD).
Lastly, the aspect of reciprocal benefit in terms of reimbursement and feedback is part of the field's politics. Refugee camps in Lebanon are over-researched and so often not given
feedback or reimbursed for their participation (Sukarieh & Tannock, 2013). This research ensured that all participants in the interviews were reimbursed indirectly, by contributing with a 100$ donation to one of the grass-root movement/donation campaigns in Burj Barajneh camp. In addition, participants were contacted to give their comments on the findings that emerged from the data analysis and they will also be receiving the study once finalized.
Analytical Process
Phenomenological psychology is rich with divergent theoretical and methodological positions (see, e.g., Ashworth, 2003; Giorgi, 1997; Todres, 2007; Van Manen, 1990). The
researcher in all approaches shares a "phenomenological attitude" where he strives to be open and attempts to see the world freshly, in a different way and avoid abstract generalization. Some approaches in phenomenology disregard the individual and aim at explicating the phenomena at hand. This is typical of descriptive phenomenology, where idiographic details are discarded or generalized (Finlay, 2009, p. 9). However, since our study aims to analyze participants' lives in- depth, an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was deemed fit. IPA was developed by Jonathan Smith and has been widely articulated for the last 25 years. All textual data
extracted from the data collection process were analyzed using a microscopic lens committed to idiography. IPA shares a commitment to the exploration of personal lived experiences and the meaning-making of phenomena. Such an approach also allows the researcher to contextualize and acknowledge the multiple influences on an experience, 'its historical and cultural
situatedness including language and social norms and practices' (Eatough & Smith, 2006, p.
119).'
The data analysis was idiographic, inductive, and interrogative. However, as described in the introduction, my theoretical point of departure was also an inspiration for developing analytic questions (see, e.g., Andenæs & Sundnes, 2019) that guided my analytical gaze.
During the interviews and the transcription process, I was engaged in reflexive memoing (Saldan˜a, 2009). I took notes about each participant's narrative during the interview and after transcribing each interview, which made me closer and more familiar with each participant's narrative. I started my analysis by looking at one interview at a time, where I engaged in an open coding process (Strauss & Corbin, 1990) using computer software NVivo 10. Multiple codes were generated in each interview, offering detailed examination and great familiarity with the participant's contribution. My first attempt to do a cross-case analysis was made among only four
cases at a time to get a deeper detailed cross-examination before imposing analytical questions among the whole set. The following analysis phase was an interplay between inductive and deductive. It was inductive as it allowed unanticipated topics to emerge. It was deductive and interrogative as I tried to link it to the existing literature by posing analytical questions inducted from the codes that generated themes and linked to the theoretical background. Participants' narrative had a flow that could be mapped and conceptualized. Therefore, I developed three analytical questions that guided my analysis: 1. How do they describe their everyday life? 2.
What seems to constitute Sumud in the researched context? 3. How is it enacted in everyday life?
4. How is it sustained? How do they engage in communicating it? The first two questions are grounded in my phenomenological stance, where I learn about Sumud by the participant's description of their lives, experiences, and conceptualizations. The third question is grounded in my theoretical stance of viewing emotions as shared collectively and embedded in a cultural, historical context where they are maintained or elicited. Finally, the fourth question is grounded in the theoretical stance of viewing emotions as experiences and as parts of everyday life
practices, highlighting the motivational aspect of emotions and their manifestation.
The transcripts were investigated systematically, each undergoing the same analytical approach. An analytical question was imposed on each interview extract, an extensive summary was written to each answer to the analytical question. Divergence and common points were highlighted among each extract to make sense of all aspects of the phenomena. Also, extracts that illustrate the participants summary were highlighted to be represented in the findings.
Moreover, analytical questions 2 and 3 had queries that tap on two levels of interpretation. The analysis moved beyond the text to a more interpretive and psychological level, e.g., how it is sustained and not only communicated. These microanalyses informed the emerging of an
overarching narrative across all cases, incorporating extracts from the participants account that highlighted commonalities and variation regarding each theme generated to answer those analytical questions. I was constantly checking the reading against the transcript itself and verifying it with other transcripts and the themes generated as answers to the analytical questions. This way my analysis started off by making sense of each participant making sense separately, followed by a summary of codes, and themes to each participant narrative. Those codes and themes facilitated the generation of four analytical questions that were systematically investigated across the cases to arrive at mapping the experience among all participants. The answers provided to those analytical questions are referred to as “themes” and “subthemes”
where I highlight variance and similarities. Finally, as the interview protocol did not include direct questions that target masculine meanings of Sumud, I did not engage in a further interpretation to discern the masculine meaning of Sumud. Therefore, my analysis fails to highlight a) gender variation and b) variation related to political affiliation.
Reflexivity
Being part of the community a researcher is studying is both challenging and rewarding.
Therefore, I had to critically reflect on my ‘fore-conceptions’ and pre-understandings from an early research stage. I did this through a journal I had from the beginning of the interviews, which I also constantly discussed and shared with my project supervisors. In addition, qualitative researchers had written extensively on the role researchers play in interpreting the findings (Kvale, 2007; Finlay, 2008, p.17; Heidegger, 1962, p. 195).
Therefore, as a researcher investigating and exploring a famous concept in his
community, I found myself resisting at an early stage of analyzing any opposing views to my own or those I read in the literature. I had multiple discussions with my professors where I
reflected and evaluated how this pre-understanding influenced the interpretation. In my first attempt to approach the concept, I thought it is homogenous. I shall investigate the similarities among the participants in the way they define it, experience it, or talk about it. However, I was wrong in assuming that what makes a widely used and famous concept is being homogenous and shared among a population. I was naïve and biased in the way I looked at the data. I perceived any different or opposing views as a destruction for the concept and its evolution. Not knowing that what makes Sumud a concept alive across generations is that it is rich, multilayered, and encompasses different aspects of one’s life. What makes Sumud easily adapted is the diversity of its meaning and enactment depending on one’s position in society. Sumud includes everyone and puts no pressure on the way one exercises it. Even though Palestinians hold the same collective identity and national struggle, our lives can vary. Although our capabilities and resources might also vary, Sumud emphasizes not exclusive ways of application but instead values and lessons that one can apply in daily life differently, making Sumud trans-national and not bound to geographic Palestine. The following reflection came after letting the data speak for itself when I dropped out of pre-assumed models I designed and fore conceptions I reflected upon. Now I see that only some aspects of the experience might resonate with my Sumud experience when reading the findings instead of what I had in mind when I first decided to research the concept.
Trustworthiness and Quality
The present study followed Yardley's (2000) and Elliott, Fischer & Rennie (1999) guidelines to ensure validity and quality. Therefore, the study was assessed through four
dimensions: sensitivity to context, commitment and rigour, transparency, impact and importance.
All four dimensions were demonstrated throughout the project and are reflected in all the sections of the study. Moreover, I reached out to the participants after writing the analysis section to ensure that the findings reflect trustworthiness. Only two participants responded and were happy to read the findings and give their feedback. Both participants stated that reading the analysis made them realize that the Sumud experience is diverse and changes from one person to another. They were happy to see different experiences reflected in the analysis and that their voice was demonstrated. One of the participants reflected on the definition of Sumud and recommended a reflection section where I state that there is no common definition for Sumud, and that it cannot be limited to one or two experiences. It is instead a set of experiences as demonstrated in the finding’s tables.
Moreover, the participants mentioned that they never read anything about Sumud, especially a paper that reflects personal experiences. They encouraged me to do further research and to consider the following project as a strong base for future projects. Finally, they
recommended that the project be translated to Arabic once finalized and shared with those interested as it might impact cultural and educational projects in the camp.
Exploring the Experience of Sumud
This chapter presents the result of the analytical endeavour taken to explore Sumud as experienced by young Palestinian refugees living in Burj Barajneh Camp. As described, four analytical questions guided the empirical investigation/exploration/discovery each aims at making sense of how participants describe, enact, and sustain Sumud. The presentation of the results will be presented by answering these four analytical questions successively.
How do They Describe Their Everyday Life?
Life is Getting Tough in a Slow Pace
It is hard to cope, but the thing is that the situation is becoming more difficult at a slow pace, it got worse slowly. Not suddenly, like a sudden war, and that we were displaced.
(Karim, 30 years old)
All participants described the situation in the camp and in Lebanon in general as tough.
They elaborated on the socio-economic situation in the camp and the prevailing poverty. Also, they expressed their frustration on Lebanon’s exclusivist laws and discriminatory attitudes toward Palestinians. They considered the denial of the right to work as one of the main
difficulties that young men from the camp find as a major challenge. However, they consider the problems that their generation is facing are different than that of the previous generation who endured war and siege. Nonetheless, they find ways to cope with these difficulties and each write up his own Sumud story. Ghassan says:
We didn't live a war or a siege, we didn’t live such hard financial difficulties to the extent that we didn’t find anything to eat, that we didn’t have a sip of water, as they endured during the camps war, but we faced tougher circumstances, or not tougher, but we can say a different type of specific circumstances that have to deal with racism and
discrimination. (Ghassan, 20 years old)
Ghassan’s comment gives us a glimpse into the type of life and difficulties young men endure that go beyond poverty and famine as his parents endured and highlight what most of the participants talked about: racism and discrimination.
What we come to learn here is that the participants face multiple difficulties in their everyday lives. While all participants agree that life is tough, they all tap on coping with these hardships and refer to "Sumud stories". Therefore, pointing out the descriptions of the
participant's daily lives presented in this section are essential for understanding their struggles and efforts to cope with the current situation. Consequently, understanding their daily struggles helps us understand the link between hardship, coping and Sumud's description.
What seems to constitute Sumud in the researched context?
In this section, the participants offer some insights on how Sumud is understood.
Participants' reflections when talking about Sumud facilitated the generation of three themes and two subthemes that points out Sumud’s constituents.
Theme 1. Sumud as a goal oriented temporal construct
Sumud is something really important in our life, as Palestinian refugees, it is something that should always stay present. For us, and those who were before us, and those who are coming after us. It should always stay. It reminds us of our cause, and our country that we will return to one day. (Mohammad, 24 years old)
Participants regularly use words such as “path”, “stage” and “priorities'' when talking about their hardships and hopes when describing Sumud. Ghassan explains this clearly: “Sumud for me is to stay steadfast, keep enduring difficulties, provide for your country, don’t put your face down ever, think day by day to live for a year. think in the short term.” Other participants referred to that path or stage as including plan A and B. The former being self-security and the latter working for your country. Likewise, Mohammad describes this clearly:
It’s about self-security, in short, you might find someone who's 18 years old or my age 21 years old, fresh graduate, worked, and secured a plan A in his life and then started with plan B, which is the land, the country and so on. (Mohammad, 24 years old)
This shows that Sumud has a goal-oriented aspect. The first goals that the individual set are related to his own survival while the end goals are related to the group’s survival.
Another element Sumud is the temporal aspect that can be generated from the shared pattern one can find in how participants point out the past/present distinction of Sumud. Hilal explains that Sumud nowadays is different from the Sumud his grandparents lived, he considers that: “In each period or stage Sumud had a specific type and took a specific shape.” Likewise, Kamal highlights that by telling a story from 1948 where he draws a distinction between Sumud nowadays and back then:
Sumud back then meant to insist and hold to the goal that you want to reach that you want this enemy out of your village or at least defend your village. At the end of the day, they weren’t humiliated, they endured all this suffering, but they didn't lose, they didn’t lose, they had a goal and they reached it. (Kamal, 21 years old)
In his distinction Kamal and other participants highlight that what changes are the goals that orient Sumud, and those can be divided into two sets of goals:
Subtheme 1.1. Group goals: Group survival until return and liberation.
Sumud is that you, now, we, maybe it’s been 70 years, and it is still the same idea, the right of return, since you are still fighting to get to this right, that is Sumud. (Kamal, 21 years old)
All Participants express that Sumud is oriented towards a set of goals that they regard as essential. Mohammad refers to this main goal as a “belief” and a “cause”, he explains: “[…] For
me, I believe in the cause, and I believe that one day, for sure, we will return to our country.”
Likewise, most of the participants share Mohammad’s belief and regard the right of return as a driving factor for Sumud. Kamal elaborates on the reason people are still living in camps saying,
“People who stayed, all have the same idea. The idea of return, they are Samidoun (Adj. Plural steadfast) because of it, it is the final goal.” However, other participants refer to the main goal differently and describe it as a “lost right'' that needs to be achieved, but still connect it to Palestine and the group, Hilal explains it as: “ When I say Sumud I remember, instantly Sumud- Palestine [imitating a link between his mind and Palestine], Sumud - resistance, Sumud: I have a lost right that I have to stay alive to get back”. Similarly, Karim refers to the goal as liberation and not only the right of return: “Our goal is liberation and not the return, because at the end not everyone would go back, there are people here who are happy, so yes its liberation.” Another aspect of the group survival is the survival of the “cause” and the goal, as Mohammad describes it:
As Palestinians, and as refugees. I see that this should go on ela abaad mada (endlessly), it is something really important for the next generation, after us, it is something they should have amongst them, to feel what we are feeling, and take care of their cause, their land. Maybe, for us, we might not be able to do something in the future, but they might, or those who come after them might. For that, it is something that should always stay, we shouldn’t give it up. (Mohammad, 24 years old)
Subtheme 1.2. Individual sub goals: Individual Survival – despite.
I want to become independent and continue my education for something bigger, what makes you cope is the goal that you set in each stage. (Karim, 30 years old)
The second set of goals that orient Sumud is related to the survival of the individual, bearing difficulties, and not giving up for the sake of the group's safety and the survival of the group’s beliefs. Participants repeatedly mentioned a link between Sumud and survival being a goal itself that would eventually reinforce the group's goals (return and liberation). As an example, most participants refer to the right to work. They consider the right to work to be a sub goal that gets connected to the group goal of return and liberation. Kamal explains this clearly:
“We’re saying, our right to live a dignified life is what will get us to Palestine, so when I am defending this right, I am defending Palestine.” Kamal also connects it to Sumud and explains: “ There are still people who are still steadfast, they still have the cooperative spirit, still stand for their right, they still have the strength to demand their right, there is more than one event that proves that.“ One of the events that Kamal refers to is also stated in other participants'
interviews, in an event that aimed at demanding the right to work. Karim describes:
If we have a common goal, let’s say right to work, people steadfast in the street and it was a movement that told the Lebanese that there is Palestinians in Lebanon, people went to protest and said we have rights, and steadfast for a long time until they reached the goal of changing the situation. (Karim, 30 years old)
The participants all refer to the importance of sharing a common goal to ensure the group’s survival until liberation and return, this includes coping, adapting, and resisting together.
Hilal also explains the connection between the individual goals as subgoals and the group goals, going beyond just the right to work and link it to survival:
Sumud is that we have a right, that we want to take, in order to take that right we have to stay alive, and in order to stay alive we have to stay steadfast, so our Sumud is that as
long as we are able to stay steadfast longer the closer we get to achieving our right, if one day we get desperate or stopped being Samidoun (Plural. Steadfast) or changed our path, we won’t get to our right. reaching our right is linked to Sumud. (Hilal, 29 years old) However, Ghassan quotes his friends who are no longer capable of coping and highlights a paradoxical engagement with Sumud that participants engage with in their community. Ghassan says: “I hear people saying, I want to stay at home, why should I stay steadfast, resist, and strive for subjects that no longer meaningful to me”
Theme 2. Paradoxical engagement in Sumud: A sense of obligation and at the same time as a choice
Sumud is something we are obliged to and at the same time we choose it. It is something we are obliged to do because we are obliged to stay Samidoun until we reach our goal.
(Hilal, 29 years old)
Participants elaborated on that paradox, either from their own experiences and reflections or from what they hear around in the camp. Not only Hilal considers Sumud to be an obligation.
Likewise Ahmad states that adhering to Sumud most of the time stands as a barrier of them living a dignified life and limits their ambitions “As young men, our ambitions are now limited [smiling, and imitating with his hands a sign that implies small], you only look one step ahead, there is nothing, [laughing]“. The paradox that Hilal and Ahmad describe is in line with what other participants touch upon, namely the fact that Sumud a) allows communities to cope with hardship and b) keeps the communities living in the same circumstances until the final goal is reached. This paradox is reflected in the participant’s interviews when they talk about their
“personal ambitions” and how Sumud limits it. Hilal explains:
Is it because I am a Palestinian refugee that I should stay samid (adj. singular steadfast)?
Sumud is no longer as I want it, it is not what I have chosen. Sumud is one of the things that keeps us living in the same life circumstances we are living in. (Hilal, 29 years old)) At the same time, the community learns from Sumud how to cope with hardship, as Hilal explains: ” For us in Palestinian refugee camps, because of our Sumud that was present in the previous period, now it became a supporting factor”, he adds and draw a comparison between how the Lebanese society is facing the current crises and how the Palestinians coped with it:
”We developed an experience in fundraising campaign, in how to outreach for people in need.
We passed through the path of organizing the work to stand in solidarity together, and work together because of our Sumud.”
Multiple participants mentioned that those who put their individual survival and
aspirations without linking it to the group’s aspirations are regarded as “traitors” (e.g. if they left the camp, demanded immigration). They are perceived as individuals who gave up on the
group’s goal and weakened it by deciding to leave. Kamal explains:
Interviewer: Who do you consider as not samid in the camp?
Kamal: This can be seen through for example the last protests they did demanding
immigration, here he is no more Samid because he had a lot of pressure that he can’t bear anymore. But he doesn't express it in other ways, for example he won’t say that out loud, or write anything or post something, he doesn't confess it if we can say that, because the society's view towards him changes if he does so. They would see him as someone who gave up on the goal, and he gave up the Sumud of the whole people, at some points they might even call him a traitor.
Ghassan highlights this paradox between his dream and Sumud, he repeatedly mentions “I don’t
know” which points out to his confusion about Sumud’s paradox:
My dream was to travel and live outside, I don’t know why, it is still my dream, maybe I would live better maybe not, maybe it’s about luck, I don’t know, but even if you lived outside you have to stay Samid. (Ghassan, 20 years old)
Theme 3. Sumud is “Being one hand”
Palestinian people are still one hand, and they are still samidoun and they don’t give up their land. (Mohammad, 24 years old)
Sumud is not only a strategy, but also a label given to those who practice it. Participants mention that those living in the camps are termed Al-shaeb al Samid (the steadfast people), as Karim explains: “When they call in the mosques they refer to the people in the camp as
Shaabona al falastini al samid (steadfast Palestinian people), in each event, whenever they call in the mosque.”. Most participants pointed out that keeping connection to your people in the camp, enduring together and facing challenges together is “important” and “necessary”.
Participants referred to the social cohesion element by expressing it as eid wahde which can be translated to being one hand. There is no proper equivalent of this metaphor in English, but its metaphoric meaning is conveyed by the expression to stand together, meaning to be united, coordinate in action, and be in solidarity with each other. Mohammad explains:
To always be eid wahde, to always support each other, to be a shoulder for those who want to lean, to stand with each other, and not to have any political disputes or anything else among the Palestinian people, to be one hand so that we can work together, to be able to do something in the future, perhaps free our country, maybe. These thoughts always cross my mind. (Mohammad)
Other participants refer to the social cohesion element and “being one hand” when
talking about the camp, and the importance of preserving the camp. Kamal considers the camp to be “itself an identity that signifies holding up to our right”. Likewise, Hilal mentioned that one of the barriers that stops them [politicians] from reaching a conflict resolution is the camp, pointing out the camp’s political significance. Karim also shared his fear of the “idea of losing the camps” and considered the preservation of the camp to be a constituent of Sumud. Others, even those affiliated to political factions, considered that political disputes, overpopulation, and unorganized buildings are a threat to the camp’s social fabric. Participants consider the camp to be “part of Palestine” and “part of the land”, “[Palestinian environment” free from racism and discrimination where they find themselves living among people that share the same struggle and the word “family” extends to include all people living there.
As described, and taking into account the camp’s significance in the lives of the
participants, being eid wahde by promoting solidarity and social symbiosis can be sought of as a political action rather than a social action, that conveys a clear message: that the Palestinians are still cohesive, still facing adversities and still waiting for their goals to be achieved. This way one’s simple action of staying in the camp reflects his commitment to the people in the camp and reinforces the social cohesion in the community.
How is Sumud Enacted in the Participants’ Everyday Life?
Young Palestinian refugees from Burj Barajneh camp face various difficulties that test their commitment to the group goals and beliefs, and therefore puts their Sumud experience into practice. These acts that participants express and link to Sumud are not enacted in a social
vacuum. Instead, these acts and social practices are embedded in their cultural and social context.
This section offers two themes that reflects some accounts of how the participants enact Sumud in their daily lives inside and outside the camp.
Theme 1. Individual Enactment: An Extraordinary Effort to Attain and Achieve Despite Hardships
Every person has his own way in expressing his Sumud, for me, I play football here in the camp, I can through football, express my Sumud. I can also express my Sumud through my work in politics. Everyone has his own way, a special way to express his Sumud. for example, those young men who practice Dabke (Traditional Palestinian dance), the scout, they all have their own way, it goes back to what do they have.
(Mohammad, 24 years old)
Sumud is enacted in the extraordinary effort by young Palestinian refugees to attain education and achieve despite the laws in Lebanon that limits their ambitions. Ahmad says unsurely:
We have a high percentage of educated people, in every house, for example in my house we are two sisters and two brothers, we all graduated from university. In every
Palestinian house you find a doctor, engineer, whatever field, but they finish university. I think those things are related to Sumud, I cannot tell, maybe they are related. (Ahmad, 24 years old)
Likewise, Karim, Omar, and Mohammad consider that Sumud is expressed through patience, persistence, determination, and self-efficacy beliefs, as Karim describes it: “Sumud is challenge, patience, and standing up against injustice”. Omar adds: “Even if the circumstances around us are hard, we have to bear it, and be patient, be patient and Nusmud (plural. steadfast) until we overcome that period.”
Knowing that the situation is difficult and that the hardship wasn’t sudden, participants expressed that they found ways to overcome these difficulties by learning different professions