Occupied Pleasures by Tanya Habjouqa (2015-10-09)

Occupied Pleasures by Tanya Habjouqa is a testimony to Palestinian resilience as they pursue simple pleasures in the face of the indignities and absurdities of prolonged occupation. Inspired by Martin Parr, Tanya documents "fringe pleasures," from the flying parkour boys of Qalqilya to the surfers and break-dancers of Gaza. She reveals also the quiet moments of release and escape. As Dr. Laleh Khalili says about Occupied Pleasures in her introduction, "We also need imagery that captures the poetry of everyday life, and not only the prose of strife. We need the fleeting wash of pleasure to color our memories in the interstices of devastation, ruination and grief... We need to remember people embodied in their flesh and not just reflected through the lens of news, or prejudice, or stereotype." Habjouqa recalls a trip to Gaza, where one industrious man refused to be deprived of his right to love and snuck his young Jordanian bride through one of the smuggling tunnels which link the beleaguered coastal enclave to Egypt. He said, "It was like a Bollywood film, her standing there and trembling, covered in earth ....I ran to her and covered her with my kisses." That moment stayed with Habjouqa and infused in her a desire to capture those little nuggets of happiness and light that Palestinians literally find at the end of the tunnel. Occupied Pleasures is a hardcover edition that measures 10 x 10 inches, with 128 pages and 68 color photographs. It includes an introduction by Dr. Laleh Khalili, Professor in Middle Eastern Politics at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, and a foreword from Nathalie Handal. The book is embellished with original poetry by Najwan Darwish, Sousan Hammad and Hind Shoufani. It includes several Arabic language proverbs drawn from, "Popular Proverbs, an Entrance into Palestinian Culture" by Nassar B. Isleem.