On (not) forgetting families: family spaces and spacings in Birzeit, Palestine

Harker, C.

doi:10.1068/a4338

On (not) forgetting families: family spaces and spacings in Birzeit, Palestine

Harker, C.

Authors

C. Harker

Abstract

This paper is a response to Valentine’s (2008) recent suggestion that the family is an absent presence within Geography. Persuaded by her argument, I explore other disciplinary approaches to theorizing families, and in particular how discursive appropriations of ‘the family’ and theories of family practices can enlarge our understandings of what families are and how they are done. I then argue that geographers can contribute to such studies by exploring the spaces and spacings that co-constitute family subjectivities. I put these ideas to work in the context of Birzeit, Palestine, where I argue particular family spaces and spacings offer more nuanced understandings of this place, which challenge limited discursive constructions of the ‘Arab family’ and the ‘Western family. I situate these theoretical maneuvers within broader geographies of intimacies, while arguing that there is still a great deal of work to be done to further spatialize our understandings of families.

Citation

Harker, C. (2010). On (not) forgetting families: family spaces and spacings in Birzeit, Palestine. Environment and Planning A, 42(11), 2624-2639. https://doi.org/10.1068/a4338

Journal Article Type	Article
Publication Date	Nov 1, 2010
Deposit Date	Apr 30, 2010
Publicly Available Date	Nov 17, 2010
Journal	Environment and Planning A
Print ISSN	0308-518X
Electronic ISSN	1472-3409
Publisher	SAGE Publications
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	42
Issue	11
Pages	2624-2639
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1068/a4338
Publisher URL	http://www.envplan.com/abstract.cgi?id=a4338

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Copyright Statement
C. Harker 2010. The definitive, peer-reviewed and edited version of this article is published in Environment and planning A, 42, 11, 2624–2639, 2010, 10.1068/a4338