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Conceiving the Masculine: Gender and Palestinian NationalismAuthor(s): Joseph MassadSource:
Middle East Journal,
Vol. 49, No. 3 (Summer, 1995), pp. 467-483Published by: Middle East InstituteStable URL:
http://www.jstor.org/stable/4328835
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CONCEIVINGTHEMASCULINE:GENDERANDPALESTINIANNATIONALISM
Joseph Massad
The articleexploreshow masculinityasacolonialmodel is figuredin nationalistdiscoursethrougha casestudy ofPalestinian nationalism.ItdemonstrateshowPalestiniannationalism conceivesofnationalist agencyin masculineterms.Itsconclusionis that nationalist agencyis constituted hroughperformancesthataresaid to beitsresults. Nationalistmasculinityis shown tobe a new type ofmasculinity,whichisimplicatedntemporal,cultural,andclass schemas thatdefineits limitationsand have little to dowith "tradition."ALESTINIANnationalism,ike othernationalisms,s influenced n itsphilosophybyEnlightenmentandpost-EnlightenmentRomanticthought.EnlightenmentphilosophyunderliesavarietyofnationalismsnEuropeand, throughEuropeancolonialism,manypartsoftheworld.'IntheEuropean politicalarena,nationalism isexpressedthrough
1. In an embattledsituation,he colonizedviewEuropeanEnlightenmenthoughtas theonlyavailablediscourse(underthe time constraintsof anti-colonialresistance)formobilizing peopleagainstcolonialonslaughts.This extension of nationalisthoughttothecolonialworld,however,wasanenterpriseraughtwithcontradictions.One ofthe most obviousunderpinningsofanti-colonialnationalismsis thecombiningofmodernizationandtradition.While one of anti-colonialnationalism'sdualgoalsisthe achievementoftechnologicalmodernizationn the Westernsense,its othergoalis the assertionofatraditionalnationalculture.JosephMassadisadoctoralcandidateinpoliticalscienceatColumbiaUniversity.He iscurrentlywritinghisdissertationonanti-colonialnationalistdiscourse, focusingon thepost-colonialstate'suseoflaw and themilitaryinconstructingnationalidentity,andindefiningnationalistagency.Thecountry ocus ofhisstudyisJordanrom1921 to 1988. An earlierversionofthispaperwaspresentedatthe annualconferenceofthe MiddleEast StudiesAssociationheld inPortland, Oregon,October1992. The author wouldlike to thankRababAbdulHadi,MervatHatem,NevilleHoad,MarcLynch,AfafMahfouz,EdwardSaid,andGayatriChakravorty pivakforreadingandcommentingon earlierversionsofthispaper.
MIDDLE EASTJOURNAL*VOLUME49,NO.3,SUMMER 1995
 
468 * MIDDLEEASTJOURNALgenderednarratives.Althoughanti-colonialnationalistagencydefines itself inoppositiontoEuropeannationalism,it does notescapeimplicationinthesamenarrative.2Themetaphor of thenation as a mother-orfatherland,thepracticeofdefendingandadministeringtwithhomosocial institutions ike themilitaryandthebureaucracy,nd thegenderedstrategiesofreproducingnotonlythenationand itsnationalistagentsbut alsothe verynationalculturedefining it,were all constitutiveofnationalistdiscourse.3KumariJayawardena dentifiesthegenderobjectivesof nationalist reformersacross Asiaastwo-fold:... to establishntheircountriessystemofstable,monogamousuclear amilieswith educated ndemployablewomensuch as wasassociatedwithcapitalistevelopmentndbourgeoisdeology;andyetto ensure hatwomen would retainapositionof traditionalsubordinationithin hefamily.4Inputtingthisprojectintoeffect,the nationalists'combiningofEuropean andexistinggendernormsdoes not resultinculturalyncretism;ather,tisaprocesswherebyEuropeannorms sublatetraditionalones.Thenewgendernorms are modeminventionsdressedupin traditionalgarbtosatisfynationalism'sclaimofanationalculture or whichitstands. Thesenewideals arenotsomuchtraditionalastheyaretraditionalized.5In theArabEast,asinthe rest ofAsia,6nationaldentity andnationalistagency werethesites ofnegotiatingnotonlyEast andWest asconceptualanchoringcategories,butalso,asimportantly,thefoundational ruseofgenderedcitizenship. Therespectiveresponsibilitiesof menand women to thenationemerged asepistemiccornerstonesofnation-building.Arguingthatmasculinitywasalways theidentitarianpoleof Europeannationalistthought,I willexaminehowPalestiniannationalismconceives (of) themasculineindefiningPalestiniannationalistagency. In sodoing, thecategory ofmasculinitywill be shownto havecertain attributesas it isembedded withina temporalschema-that ofpost-Enlightenmentmodernity;a classschema-that ofbourgeoisentrepreneurs;ndageoculturalschema-that ofEuropeanolonial cultureasa paradigmthroughwhichtradition s(re)interpreted.Myobjective here isnot so much todescribethe
2. Inresponding oaWesterncolonialdiscoursethatnegates thepossibility ofnationalistagencyin thecolonies, anti-colonialnationalists had todeal with theway Westernmodernizationitinto theiridentitarianproject.Thenationalistprojecthatispredicateduponthecreationofanationaldentityposits thisveryidentityasthelocus ofnegotiating therelation of thetraditional othemodern. See ParthaChatterjee,NationalistThoughtand theColonial World:ADerivativeDiscourse (London: ZedPress,1986).3.Nationalistagencyrefers totheabilities andthewilltoperforma setofacts andpractices aimed atachievingnationalistgoals asthose (theabilities, theacts, thepractices,and the goals)aredefined bynationalistdiscourse.Thenationalistagentissomeone whoidentifiesas, and isidentifiedby nationalistdiscourseas,partof thenation,andonewhom nationalistdiscourseconsidersto beapossessor of theaforementionedbilities andwill,based oncriteriasetbynationalistdiscourse.4.KumariJayawardena,Feminism andNationalism intheThirdWorld(London:ZedPress,1986),p.15.5. Ontraditionalization, eeAbdullahLaroui, TheCrisisof the ArabIntellectual:TraditionalismorHistoricism?(Berkeley:University ofCaliforniaPress,1976).6. Africananti-colonialnationalismhadtoconfront aEuropeancolonialdiscoursedifferent rom itsAsiancounterpart.WhileOrientalismconstructedthe ideaof anOrientinneed ofOccidentalcivilization,colonial discourseconstructedAfricaintheEuropeanmaginationas the"darkcontinent" nneedofEuropeancolonialEnlightenment.
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