Palestinian childhood – growing up in a heterotopic world

Life history interviews were utilized to reconstruct the childhood and youth of 19 Palestinians. The 8 women and 11 men grew up in different countries and under vastly diverse socioeconomic conditions, with an age gap of more than forty years between the youngest and oldest respondents. The study highlights the common obstacles and burdens these individuals faced during their childhood and youth, despite all the differences. This is addressed through the concept of the ‘heterotopic character of the world,’ inspired by Foucault's (1986) reflections on heterotopias. For Palestinians, nearly every space on Earth takes on this very quality. This socio-spatial relationship encompasses various impositions: a system of opening and closing, which determines where children and their families are permitted to live and travel; increased surveillance affecting children and young people; and a lack of recognition within state and public institutions, such as schools. These circumstances lead to a childhood and adolescence in which one must deal with uprooting and injustice. However, the children are not merely passive victims. The data demonstrate that they carve out niches in various ways to retreat or exert some agency over their situations. Crucially, nevertheless, these actions do little to alter the overarching heterotopic reality.