Abstract

Women throughout the world have always played their part in struggles against colonialism, imperialism and other forms of oppression. However, there are few books on Arab political prisoners, fewer still on the Palestinians who have been detained in their thousands for their political activism and resistance.

Nahla Abdo's Captive Revolution seeks to break the silence on Palestinian women political detainees, providing a vital contribution to research on women, revolutions, national liberation and anti-colonial resistance. Based on stories of the women themselves, as well as her own experiences as a former political prisoner, Abdo draws on a wealth of oral history and primary research in order to analyse their anti-colonial struggle, their agency and their appalling treatment as political detainees.

Making crucial comparisons with the experiences of female political detainees in other conflicts, and emphasising the vital role Palestinian political culture and memorialisation of the 'Nakba' have had on their resilience and resistance, Captive Revolution is a rich and revealing addition to our knowledge of this little-studied phenomenon.
'Reveals just how much of the history of anti-imperialist struggles is absent when women - especially Palestinian women freedom fighters - are overlooked'
Angela Davis, Distinguished Professor Emerita, History of Consciousness and Feminist Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz
'Nahla Abdo's groundbreaking, highly personal anti-imperialist analysis of Palestinian women political detainees makes a vital contribution to feminist studies of struggle and resistance, moving the reader from rage to hope'
Ronit Lentin, Associate professor of Sociology, Trinity College Dublin
'By interviewing Palestinian women political detainees and by situating their experiences both historically and globally, Abdo fills an important gap in both feminist and non-feminist scholarship on gender and resistance'
Simona Sharoni, Ph.D, Professor, Gender & Women’s Studies, State University of New York, Plattsburgh
'A powerful and informative book, whose historical, cultural and political framing distinguishes it within an expanding literature on women political prisoners in the Middle East'
Rosemary Sayigh, Journal of Holy Land and Palestine Studies
'A landmark contribution. Avoiding the simplicity of merely adding the narratives of women to existing accounts of prison struggles, Abdo indicts the colonial violence, gynophobia, orientalism and cultural erasure that define the carceral regimes which Palestinian women encounter, and resist'
Dr Mary Corcoran, Keele University, UK.