Biopolitical control and organic alternatives in Susan Abulhawa’s The Blue Between Sky and Water

This paper examines Susan Abulhawa’s The Blue Between Sky and Water (2015) in terms of its depiction of the deteriorating healthcare system in Gaza under Israeli control and the siege imposed since 2007. Through the lens of the critical medical humanities, the paper explores the novel’s indictment of systemic medical deprivation as a means of political domination. To achieve this purpose, the paper delves into narrative medicine’s depiction of patients suffering as a result of denied access to proper treatment, traditional healers providing healthcare through herbal remedies and besieged doctors operating under hard conditions. By so doing, the paper reflects on how the political conflict and restricted access to healthcare in Gaza shape the lived experience of illness and healing, enriching literary scholarship on diaspora literatures as well as the field of the critical medical humanities.