Lucy Barkley

Department: Palestine Studies
Discipline: Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies
Research Centre/Unit: Anthropology

Project Summary

My PhD research is an ethnographic study of how Palestinians living in Britain use food to (re)negotiate issues of being and belonging, and thus (re)construct homes and communities in exile. Further, through its examination of sensory memories, the research aims to better understand how food and food-related memories constitute a quotidian practice of refusal that speaks to the hegemonic discourse and temporality of Israeli settler colonialism.


Fieldwork for the project has consisted of in-depth interviews (informal and semi-structured), the collection of oral history narratives, and participant observation. The project aims to fill existing gaps in the scholarship in Palestine Studies, diaspora studies, and the anthropology of food and the senses.

Supervisory Team

1st supervisor: Professor Ilan Pappe

2nd supervisor: Dr Katie Natanel

3rd/external supervisor: Dr Jason Hart (Bath)

Wider Research Interests

Key words: anthropology, Palestine, diaspora, home, community, food, the senses, embodiment, memory, temporality, resistance, refusal, futurity.