GENDERED VIOLENCE, COLONIAL TRAUMA, AND FEMALE RESILIENCE IN SUSAN ABULHAWA'S THE BLUE BETWEEN SKY AND WATER

Abstract

Susan Abulhawa's The Blue Between Sky and Water (2015) is a stunning portrayal of Palestinian history through the lives of four generations of women influenced by relocation, occupation, and exile. While the novel has been widely analyzed in terms of memory, identity, and the Palestinian Nakba, its examination of gendered violence warrants further scholarly investigation. This study investigates how Abulhawa portrays violence against women as a multifaceted problem involving colonial dominance, military occupation, sexual assault, displacement, domestic oppression, and psychological trauma. Drawing on postcolonial feminist theories by Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Chandra Talpade Mohanty, and Cynthia Enloe, the study contends that the novel illustrates the connection of patriarchy and settler colonialism in the production of women's suffering. At the same time, Abulhawa questions victim-centered narratives by portraying women as active agents of survival, cultural preservation, and resistance. The novel reveals via characters such as Nazmiyeh, Nur, and Alwan that female fortitude emerges not in the face of violence, but rather through the translation of pain into memory, solidarity, and collective endurance. Finally, The Blue Between Sky and Water reimagines resistance via ordinary acts of caregiving, storytelling, and survival, highlighting women as essential protagonists in Palestinian cultural and political history.