Learning the nation in exile: constructing youth identities, belonging and ‘citizenship’ in Palestinian refugee camps in south Lebanon

This paper examines the ways in which 'Palestine' and 'Palestinianess' are culturally, socially and symbolically produced and regulated through formal and non-formal institutional sites in Palestinian camps in south Lebanon. It argues that although institutional power, processes and outcomes help to construct shared notions of 'Palestinianess', they also produce contestations and internal 'others'. Moreover, since Palestinian youth identities are produced inter-textually across multiple civil society institutions, the artificial divide between the school and the community is challenged, the school is decentred as the primary learning site for the construction of youth identities, and notions of 'student' and 'teacher' are destabilised. This has important implications for how citizenship education is theorised and practised in the contexts of transience, political instability and conflict. Notes The number of Palestinian refugees currently registered with UNRWA is 4,820,229: 2,004,795 in Jordan; 477,700 in Syria; 427,057 in Lebanon; 788,108 in the West Bank; and 1,122,569 in Gaza. Among these, Lebanon has the highest percentage of refugees living in camps at 53.1%. By comparison, only 17.3% of Palestinians in Jordan live in camps (UNRWA Citation2010). UNRWA was specifically set up in 1949 to provide assistance, protection and advocacy for Palestinian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank and Gaza. The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) only provides assistance and protection to Palestinian refugees outside UNRWA's areas of operations (UNRWA Citation2010).