Fires that Light the Way: On Witnessing Occupied Palestine - and Beyond




Mendoza, Perry (Julian)

PublisherJournal of American Folklore

2026

 Journal of American Folklore

139

552

197

203

0021-8715

1535-1882

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.5406/15351882.139.552.07

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.



Last updated on 18/05/2026 12:26:53 PM