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Abstract
The last two decades have witnessed a remarkable increase in the exhibition and screening of Palestinian art and film in festivals, galleries and cinemas around the world. Since the mid 1990s this Palestinian work has been marked by a distinct turn toward the employment of humour. This shift signals a radical departure from the aesthetic modes that previously dominated Palestinian art and film. Despite this change of direction, there remains a lack of scholarly analysis dealing with this phenomenon. This thesis offers the first comprehensive study of humour in Palestinian art and film, analyzing both the impetus behind this shift toward laughter and its consequences.
This thesis is also the first study to investigate Palestinian art and film in a single extensive text, revealing the ways in which both art forms developed in response to critical moments in Palestinian history. Described as ‘critical junctions’, these moments have radically transformed modern Palestinian collective identity and in turn Palestinian cultural output. Mapping these critical junctions, beginning with the decline of the Ottoman Empire up until the present, this thesis explores the historical trajectory of Palestinian art and film and argues that the failure of the peace process has led to the proliferation of humour in Palestinian visual culture.