In the scent of jasmine and flavours of maqluba : plants, foods, and connection among diasporic Palestinian women and youth in Amman, Jordan
department or school: Science, Faculty of
department or school: Resources, Environment and Sustainability (IRES), Institute for
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCV
creator: Reynolds, Kate Lai
issued: 2025-10-15T15:31:16Z
issued: 2025
related degree: Master of Arts - MA
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: For many diasporic communities, plants and foods often sustain ties to heritage, kin, and cherished places. In the Palestinian diasporic context, these relationships carry particular political weight, shaped by over 75 years of mass displacement, violence, and the ongoing settler colonial project of the Israeli state. In asserting sumud (steadfastness, refusal of displacement) to Palestine, Palestinian resistance often roots itself in the symbolic, emotional, and historical ties to the land through plant life, as echoed in the enduring protest chant, âwe will stay as long as olives and zaâatar.â This research investigated how diasporic women and youth narrate the significance of plants and food in connecting to their Palestinian identity and homeland. This thesis relies on analysis of oral life history interviews with three Palestinian women, and a focus group with five Palestinian youth (women and men), all living in Amman, Jordan. The research found that engagement with memories of Palestine can be facilitated through plants and food in the diaspora, serving to sustain Palestinian identity and sense of connection in the everyday. This was observed through sensory encounters with plants and foodsâthe taste of zaâatar, the feel of olives, and the scent of jasmineâevoking unrehearsed recollections that recall and sustain rootedness to Palestine, and impact the textures of everyday life. For the younger Palestinians, such sensory "inheritances" help cultivate belonging and a longing for return. Additionally, maintaining connections to plants and foods provides a tether to Palestinian identity, as forms of care are enacted across borders, gardens, and kitchens. The findings also suggest that participants enact their commitment to Palestinian return by contesting settler-colonial erasures of Palestinian relationships with land.
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/92608
note: In the Scent of Jasmine and Flavours of Maqluba: Plants, Foods, and Connection among Diasporic Palestinian Women and Youth in Amman, Jordan by Kate Lai Reynolds A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES (Resources, Environment, and Sustainability) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) October 2025 © Kate Lai Reynolds, 2025 ii The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies for acceptance, the thesis entitled: In the Scent of Jasmine and Flavours of Maqluba: Plants, Foods, and Connection among Diasporic Palestinian Women and Youth in Amman, Jordan submitted by Kate Lai Reynolds in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Resources, Environment, and Sustainability Examining Committee: Dr. Leila M. Harris, Professor, Resources Environment and Sustainability, UBC Supervisor Dr. Mohammed Rafi Arefin, Assistant Professor, Geography, UBC Supervisory Committee Member Dr. Juanita Sundberg, Associate Professor, Geography, UBC Additional Examiner iii Abstract For many diasporic communities, plants and foods often sustain ties to heritage, kin, and cherished places. In the Palestinian diasporic context, these relationships carry particular political weight, shaped by over 75 years of mass displacement, violence, and the ongoing settler colonial project of the Israeli state. In asserting sumud (steadfastness, refusal of displacement) to Palestine, Palestinian resistance often roots itself in the symbolic, emotional, and historical ties to the land through plant life, as echoed in the enduring protest chant, âwe will stay as long as olives and zaâatar.â This research investigated how diasporic women and youth narrate the significance of plants and food in connecting to their Palestinian identity and homeland. This thesis relies on analysis of oral life history i…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2025-11
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0450438
language: eng
degree discipline: Resources, Environment and Sustainability
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
contributor: Harris, Leila
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/92608