Masculinities And/Under Protracted Occupation

Publication Title

Routledge Handbook of Masculinities, Conflict, and Peacebuilding

Page

81

Year

2025

Abstract

There is a dearth of conceptual and practical thinking about the diversity and forms of masculinity in occupation sites and what the implications of these manifestations are for the experience of conflict and ultimately its resolution. In order to address this gap, this chapter examines how protracted military occupation shapes conceptions and practices of masculinity, both civilian and military, in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). The chapter explores the ways in which masculinities enable, sustain, function, and are shaped by the practices of occupation and, in turn, play a central role in the construction of that practice. It analyses the regulation of space through the mechanism of checkpoints, controlled and operated by the occupying (Israeli) military, and through which men, boys, women, and girls must traverse to undertake the most mundane aspects of everyday life. The chapter views the checkpoint interface as capturing a set of experiences, realities, and harms that engage, construct, undo, and harm masculinities. While the focus is primarily on the experiences and navigation of occupation by Palestinian men, the chapter highlights the relational quality of men’s lives and, at key points, highlights the ways in which both Palestinian men and women co-experience gendered harms.


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