A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Fires that Light the Way: On Witnessing Occupied Palestine - and Beyond
Authors: Mendoza, Perry (Julian)
Publisher: Journal of American Folklore
Publication year: 2026
Journal: Journal of American Folklore
Volume: 139
Issue: 552
First page : 197
Last page: 203
ISSN: 0021-8715
eISSN: 1535-1882
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5406/15351882.139.552.07
Publication's open availability at the time of reporting: No Open Access
Publication channel's open availability : No Open Access publication channel
Web address : https://doi.org/10.5406/15351882.139.552.07
This paper investigates the situations unveiled symbolically by the wildfires in Jerusalem (Al-Quds). It considers the ongoing situation in Palestine as a complex of events that reveals various forms of settler colonialism, from their entanglements with archaeology, to their impositions on the flora and fauna of Gaza, taking the wildfires as a point of departure for a metaphorical contemplation on two possibilities: the possibility of hope and the possibility of political change that gives the fields both of Palestine and folkloristics a more optimistic future.