Uncanny returns in settler colonial state: return, exile, and decolonization in Palestine/Israel

ABSTRACTIn this article, I propose uncanniness as a defining characteristic of return as I explore the settler colonial context of Palestine/Israel, where return has starkly ethno-nationalistic connotations. For Palestinians, return is associated with the liberation of Palestine, while for Israelis, it is part of Zionist foundational narratives. By explicating academic research and biographical literature, I consider how the concept of uncanny can further our understanding of what it means to return in this context, and beyond. Uncanniness brings attention to feelings of disorientation, strangeness, and not-at-homeness, and by approaching return as uncanny, I suggest, it is possible to tap into the volatility of “being-at-home” and thus unsettle exclusive and essentialist notions of belonging that define settler colonialism. Consequently, the article offers a way to consider return in a manner that gets from nostalgia to a new beginning and, in the settler colonial context of Palestine/Israel, from settler anxiety to decolonization.KEYWORDS: UncannyreturnbelongingPalestine/Israelsettler colonialismdecolonization AcknowledgementsI wish to thank the two anonymous reviewers whose feedback helped in sharpening the argument. My gratitude also to SPARG research group at Tampere University for their comments and support and to Mikko Joronen for reading and commenting on the different versions of this article.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Statement of ethicsSee Note 1.Notes1 The quotes are from a two-month ethnographic fieldwork conducted for a doctoral dissertation (Järvi Citation2021b). At the time, ethics approval was not required by Tampere University, but a discussion on research ethics can be found in the monograph.2 In addition to the refugees displaced in 1948, there is a multi-layered Palestinian exile whose possibility to return can be as precarious. However, their return does not hold similar national sentiments of liberation as that of the 1948 refugees, whose would return to places that currently constitute the state of Israel. In this article, while discussing return in general, the focus is on the transformative force associated with the return of 1948 refugees.3 Flight from uncanniness is, to be exact, a modus operandi for everyone (see, Withy Citation2015, 96–98), as for Heidegger, it is part of the ontology of being. Here, however, I hope to underline how it defines the political reality of settler colonialism.Additional informationFundingThis work was supported by the Academy of Finland [grant number 322025] and by Kone Foundation grant.