An Eco-Critical Reading of Susan Abulhawa’s Mornings in Jenin in the Light of Rob Nixon’s Slow Violence

Abstract

Humanity is currently facing an existential threat due to rapid environmental degradation. The global environmental crisis is one of the most problematic issues of modern times. Slow violence, a form of ecocriticism, refers to the gradual harm accumulates over time in both humans and the environment. The present study attempts to apply the concept of slow violence embodied in the book “Slow Violence and the Environmentalism” of the Poor by Rob Nixon to the Palestinian struggles as depicted in Susan Abulhawa’s novel Mornings in Jenin. A qualitative analytical approach was adopted to examine the environmental, social, and psychological harm inflicted on individuals throughout the novel. The novel demonstrates how cumulative harm reshapes identity, memory, and the relationship between people and their land over time. Finally, the findings reveal that displacement and war lead people to experience a type of violence, that is invisible and gradual.