Date of Award

Spring 5-17-2025

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Expressive Therapies

Major

Expressive Therapies

First Advisor

E Kellogg

Abstract

This literature review explores the psychological and psychosomatic impacts of political violence on Palestinians living under Israeli military occupation. Drawing from historical, academic, and ethnographic sources, the thesis examines how risk factors such as displacement, home destruction or demolition, and chronic exposure to military aggression contribute to trauma. Utilizing expressive arts therapy as a lens for understanding how arts-based processes support working through trauma, the review identifies existing Palestinian cultural practices that allow for the reclamation of the self, the collective, and the land. This review also highlights protective factors that support the well-being and resilience of Palestinians, such as community support, engagement in cultural practices, and the cessation of violence that mitigate distress and foster resilience. Incorporating culturally relevant and community-based strategies is essential for day-to-day survival in the occupied Palestinian territories. In response to the limitations of Western frameworks of trauma and intervention, this review incorporates Indigenous Palestinian ways of knowing, such as sumud (steadfastness), which emphasizes resistance and resilience through oneness with the people of the land and the land itself. This review seeks to illuminate how cultural practices such as dabke, a traditional folk dance, serve as (1) an embodiment of sumud, (2) an expression of cultural continuity, and (3) a way to process and cope with ongoing trauma.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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