REPRESENTATIONS OF RESISTANCE AND COUNTER NARRATIVES IN THE FILM NO OTHER LAND: AN ANALYSIS OF EDWARD'S POSTCOLONIAL ORIENTALISM

Muhammad Ibrahim Al Fadhil,, Muhammad Ibrahim Al Fadhil and Mulloh, Tamim Mulloh ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6714-6181 (2025) REPRESENTATIONS OF RESISTANCE AND COUNTER NARRATIVES IN THE FILM NO OTHER LAND: AN ANALYSIS OF EDWARD'S POSTCOLONIAL ORIENTALISM. Mabasan, 19 (2). pp. 219-432. ISSN 2621-2005

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Abstract

The Palestinian–Israeli conflict remains one of the most complex and enduring geopolitical conflicts in the modern era, marked by the continuation of Israeli colonial practices in the occupied Palestinian territories. The documentary film *No Other Land* documents the destruction of Palestinian communities in Masafer Yatta while portraying the everyday forms of resistance undertaken by local residents. This study addresses the need to examine how the film constructs narratives of resistance and challenges dominant Orientalist representations of Palestine. It argues that *No Other Land* functions not merely as a documentary record of violence and displacement but also as a cinematic medium that affirms the agency, dignity, and collective identity of the Palestinian people.
This research employs Edward Said’s theory of Orientalism as its analytical framework to investigate how the film represents colonial power relations and produces counter-narratives through Palestinian resistance. A qualitative descriptive approach was adopted, with data collected through close observation of the film’s scenes, dialogues, and visual representations. The data were subsequently categorized into verbal, symbolic, and historical forms of resistance and analyzed within the framework of Orientalist discourse.

The findings identified 21 instances of resistance, comprising 10 verbal, 8 symbolic, and 3 historical forms, as well as 7 counter-narratives that challenge Orientalist portrayals of Palestinians as passive, powerless, and dependent. These findings demonstrate that *No Other Land* transcends its role as a documentary of suffering by functioning as a political and cultural medium that reclaims Palestinian representation and contests hegemonic colonial discourse. Consequently, the study highlights the potential of documentary cinema as a space of cultural resistance that reinforces the identity, dignity, and rights of colonized peoples while contributing to broader postcolonial and media studies scholarship.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Keywords:	No Other Land; resistance; counter-narrative; Orientalism; documentary film; Palestine.
Subjects:	20 LANGUAGE, COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE > 2002 Cultural Studies > 200211 Postcolonial Studies
Divisions:	Faculty of Humanities > Department of Arabic Language and Letters
Depositing User:	Tamim Mulloh
Date Deposited:	16 Jul 2026 09:54

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