ABSTRACT
This chapter seeks to define nomadism as a form of cultural discourse on the Bedouin of Palestine. It guides the reader through key research questions, methods and theories, and chapter outline. It provides the reader with an updated historiographical and literary review of the field of Israel/Palestine Studies, bringing to the fore ongoing academic debates over the question of periodization, the dating of Palestinian national awakening, and revisionist Zionism. By fleshing out the book’s main arguments, actors, movements, and institutions, it attempts to situate the study of nomadism within the broader context of British colonialism in India, the Middle East, and North Africa. By outlining the research interdisciplinary approach, it shows how the study of nomadism in modern Palestine cuts across a diversity of academic fields, such as history, literary theory, anthropology, culture and ethnic studies, environmental studies, and postcolonial theory. Drawing on primary sources in Arabic and Hebrew, it outlines the research comparative and relational approach, and its shifting focus on history-from-below and the study of marginalized groups.
