Under the Nakba Tree

by Mowafa Said Househ

Mowafa’s family fled Palestine in 1948 and arrived in Canada in the 1970s. His childhood was spent in Edmonton, Alberta, where he grew up as a visible minority and a muslim whose family had a deeply fractured history. In the year 2000, Mowafa visited his family’s homeland of Palestine. It was the beginning of the Second Intifada and Mowafa witnessed first-hand the effects of prolonged conflict and occupation. It was those observations and that experience that inspired him not only to tell his story but to realize many of the intergenerational and colonial traumas that he shares with the Indigenous people of Turtle Island. His moving memoir compares and contrasts the lives of immigrants with the lives of those who live on occupied land and the struggles that define them both.

Genres: Memoir

140 pages, Paperback

Published May 16, 2022

Reviews

[Kennedy · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars
Househ tells a multigenerational refugee story, through both first person experiences and recounts of stories of his parents and their parents.
In many ways their story is a quintessential story of immigration, and yet in many others the generational trauma of repeated and unending wars in Palestine leave a unique mark.
The narrative style is a bit scattered, but the content is incredibly important and gut wrenching to read. It’s hard to fathom being a third generation refugee with no true home in either the place your parents were born or the place you were born.
Recommend this read!

[Emelyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Glad I picked this book up from the library. This memoir tells the story of a Palestinian Canadian growing up in Edmonton trying to understand his own identity and then ultimately exploring his family's homeland in Palestine. This book touches on settler colonialism, Israeli occupation, assimilation, and what it means to be home. I hope more people have the chance to read this memoir and learn about the struggles of survival of the Palestinian people.

[rexrae · Rating 5 out of 5]

With succinct clarity, Househ articulates the complex condition of being a direct descendant of exiled refugees who sought sanctuary in foreign land. This personal account of life acts to curb the limited and distorted understanding on the deliberate degradation of occupied Palestine.

[Debbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

interesting and timely read.