The Materiality of Resistance

Abstract

ion and Allegory By contrast with the proliferation of the insignia of resistance in English and other European languages, only in rare instances are Arabiclanguage graffiti inscribed on Bethlehem’s apartheid wall. This linguistic shift from the Arabic graffiti of the first intifada to the English graffiti of the postintifada apartheid wall attests to the reconfiguration of the demographics of the graffiti artist and of the graffiti’s intended audience. Beyond the obvious linguistic shift, the representations of resistance diverge in other ways as well. Whereas Englishlanguage graffiti is configured as a didactic discourse, bent on improving international relations, the Arabiclanguage graffiti that adorn the segregation wall adopt the representational strategy of allegory. Mired in the immanence of unmediated experience, they suggest no concrete solution, and promulgate no message of hope. Not unlike the Arabic graffiti of past centuries, including the fascinating specimens collected in the Book of Strangers (Kitāb adab alghurabā’) attributed to the prolific litterateur Abū alFaraj alIs.fahāni (d. 967), contemporary Arabiclanguage graffiti is less concerned with