In this thesis, I examine Palestinian women writers and their contributions to resistance writing. I argue that contemporary Palestinian women's writings significantly contribute to social justice movements concerned with “resistance.” This thesis defines resistance as a continual political movement that calls upon the oppressed people to unite and fight against social injustices and imperialism. While coming out of Palestinian women's writing, this definition is not limited to just the struggle for Palestinian justice but may be applicable across the current movement for social justice. I also argue that women’s contributions to resistance writing are greatly underrepresented by scholars who analyze and produce publications on the topic of resistance literature, primarily focusing their analyses on men’s writings and how they contribute to the movement. This thesis expands on the notion that Third World feminist consciousness was able to advance and thrive with nationalism. In doing so, I argue against Western assumptions that feminism cannot coincide with nationalism in a society that practices patriarchal traditions. Resistance literature written by women not only reinforces the idea of liberation and nationalism as seen in writings by their male counterparts, but it expands and reconfigures this literary form by combining their patriarchal oppressions and feminist perspectives with their anti-colonial agendas. I analyze the literary works of two Palestinian women novelists, Sahar Khalifeh and Susan Abulhawa, and how their novels promote nationalism and feminism, campaigning for displaced Palestinians affected by colonial-induced conflict. By highlighting these key issues Palestinians faced during the diaspora, both authors successfully advocate for women's empowerment and the Palestinian people's liberation.

Though they are almost completely absent from the historical record, Palestinian women were extensively involved in the unfolding national struggle in their country during the British mandate period. This history studies the development of the Palestine women's movement between 1920 and 1948.

Though they are almost completely absent from the historical record, Palestinian women were extensively involved in the unfolding national struggle in their country during the British mandate period. Led primarily by urban, educated women from the middle and upper classes of Arab society, Palestinian women struggled against British colonialism and against Jewish settlement by holding a national congress, meeting with government officials, smuggling arms, demonstrating, and participating in regional and international conferences. This book is the first comprehensive historical study of the emergence and development of the Palestinian women's movement in this important historical period. Drawing from little-studied source material including oral histories, newspapers, memoirs, and government documents, Ellen Fleischmann not only shows what these women accomplished within the political arena, but also explores the social, cultural, and economic contexts within which they operated. Charting the emergence of an indigenous feminism in Palestine, this work joins efforts to broaden European and American definitions of feminism by incorporating non-Western perspectives.

Jad traces the transformation of the Palestinian women’s movement from the 1930s to the post-Oslo period and through the Second Intifada to examine the often-fraught relationship between women and nationalism in Palestine. Offering one of the first intensive studies of Islamist women’s activism, Jad also explores the impact of emerging feminist NGOs in depoliticizing the secular Palestinian women’s movement. Studying these two developments together illuminates the nature of women’s engagement in the Palestinian space, challenging myths of gender roles’ “immutability” under Islam and the supposed “modernizing” benefits of Western-style activism.

Feminist Nationalism demonstrates how feminism is redefining nationalism by presenting case studies from Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and the Americas. Consisting of social movements and cultural ideologies, feminist nationalism links struggles for women's rights with struggles for group identity rights and/or national sovereignty in their goals of self-determination. Many analyses of nationalism assume it is identical for women and men in its definition and operation. This collection challenges that framework by placing women at the center and demonstrating how feminism is redefining nationalism both in particular cases and in the global context.