‘To Avoid a Strange European Explanation’

Hilma Granqvist’s Early Ethnographic Research in Palestine

Authors

• Laura Menard University of Portsmouth

DOI: https://doi.org/10.30676/jfas.157553

Abstract

This year marks a century since Finnish ethnographer Hilma Granqvist (1890–1972) embarked on her first journey to Palestine, an undertaking that proved intellectually rich alongside becoming a professional impasse. Initially setting out to study ‘The Women of the Old Testament’, she soon shifted her topic to reflect new methodological and theoretical insights. Yet, her pioneering research ultimately fell victim to the fate often faced by those ahead of their time.

In Palestine, al-Sitt Halimah’s (as she was known amongst her Palestinian interlocutors) work has remained highly regarded for decades, with her detailed recordings of rural Palestinian customs contributing to Palestinian scholarship as well as identity-building (Abou-Hodeib 2021). Today, her work resonates more than ever given Israel’s ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people as well as against the erasure of Palestinian heritage and knowledge systems which continues unchecked—a process that Granqvist witnessed in its early stages in the 1920s.

Upon her return to Finland, Granqvist was among the very few who openly criticised the Zionist colonial expansion in Palestine. Arguably, this stance, along with her theoretical and methodological advancements, contributed to her effective banishment from pursuing an academic career in Finland. In recent years, there has been a growing interest in her work, both in her native Finland and in Western academia at large.