'Voice of Resistance': Rim Banna, Cancer, and Palestine's Body Politic

Hamdar, Abir

doi:10.1136/medhum-2019-011649

'Voice of Resistance': Rim Banna, Cancer, and Palestine's Body Politic

Hamdar, Abir

Authors

Professor Abir Hamdar abir.hamdar@durham.ac.uk
Professor

Abstract

This essay offers a cultural anatomy of Palestinian artist Rim Banna’s post-illness body, from her cancer diagnosis, through her death and into the commemorations that ensued. The essay draws on Banna’s music, her interviews, as well as the public obituaries in the wake of her death, to argue that her cancer (and other chronic health issues) have not only been transformed into an allegory or metaphor for the colonial situation of Palestine but into the site for a poetics of Palestinian unity and resistance. In conclusion, the essay observes how the posthumous release of Banna’s last album is the culmination of this becoming-political of cancer.

Citation

Hamdar, A. (2020). 'Voice of Resistance': Rim Banna, Cancer, and Palestine's Body Politic. Medical Humanities, 46(3), 234-242. https://doi.org/10.1136/medhum-2019-011649

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Mar 19, 2019
Online Publication Date	Jun 21, 2019
Publication Date	2020-09
Deposit Date	Feb 19, 2019
Publicly Available Date	Mar 19, 2019
Journal	Medical humanities.
Print ISSN	1468-215X
Electronic ISSN	1473-4265
Publisher	BMJ Publishing Group
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	46
Issue	3
Pages	234-242
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1136/medhum-2019-011649

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Copyright Statement
This article has been accepted for publication in BMJ Medical Humanities, 2019 following peer review, and the Version of Record can be accessed online at http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/medhum-2019-011649. © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2020.