Title |
A Doctor’s Testimony: Medical Neutrality and the Visibility of Palestinian Grievances in Jewish-Israeli Publics
|
---|---|
Published in |
Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry, September 2015
|
DOI | 10.1007/s11013-015-9470-7 |
Pubmed ID | |
Authors |
Guy Shalev |
Abstract |
This paper follows the testimony of Izzeldin Abuelaish, a Palestinian physician who bears witness to his experiences working, living, and suffering under Israeli rule. He presents his story as a doctor's story, drawing on his identity as a medical professional to gain credibility and visibility and to challenge the limited legitimacy of Palestinian grievances. In this paper, I explore his testimony as a medical voice that at once recounts the suffering and loss endured by the Palestinian people and also struggles to negotiate the values associated with being a "reliable" witness. Consequently, I ethnographically examine the social life and reception of his story in Jewish-Israeli publics. In comparison with most Palestinian narratives, Abuelaish's testimony achieved an extremely rare degree of visibility and sympathy, a phenomenon that calls out for analysis. I identify the boundaries that typically render Palestinian grievances invisible to Israeli publics and suggest how medicine's self-proclaimed ethos of neutrality served as a channel for crossing them. Finally, I reflect on the political possibilities and limitations of medical witnessing to render suffering visible and arouse compassion toward those construed as a dangerous/enemy Other. |
Mendeley readers
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Unknown | 25 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Researcher | 3 | 12% |
Student > Ph. D. Student | 3 | 12% |
Student > Master | 2 | 8% |
Lecturer | 1 | 4% |
Student > Doctoral Student | 1 | 4% |
Other | 4 | 16% |
Unknown | 11 | 44% |
Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Social Sciences | 4 | 16% |
Psychology | 3 | 12% |
Arts and Humanities | 2 | 8% |
Business, Management and Accounting | 1 | 4% |
Nursing and Health Professions | 1 | 4% |
Other | 2 | 8% |
Unknown | 12 | 48% |