Palestine in the Air

<p><b>As the first cultural history of Palestinian aviation <i>Palestine in the Air</i> reveals civil aviation's role in the 'question of Palestine' over the past century.</b> <p/> How do Palestinians-as individuals communities and as a nascent state-engage with the air? How does their systemic exclusion from aerial agency inform dominant and counter-narratives of culture and modernity? <p/>International civil aviation is a powerful tool for the disenfranchisement of Palestinian statehood connectivity and mobility. Yet Palestinians have constantly sought to harness aviation as a legitimate component of modern state-building. They have also creatively appropriated aviation technologies including balloons kites and drones as instruments of resistance exploiting flight's symbolic qualities of escape and liberation to highlight the injustices of occupation. <p/>Using an interdisciplinary approach that draws on media studies cultural studies critical theory diplomacy and history <i>Palestine in the A</i>ir examines civil aviation's political social and cultural impact upon the Palestinian quest for sovereignty. The book makes use of an unprecedented range of aviation-related sources spanning unpublished memoirs print and image archives interviews art film literature poetry and stand-up comedy.</p>