Trabajo y autogestión en los Campos de Israel y Palestina

Patricia Fraile-Garrido; Inés Martín-Robles

doi:10.12795/HabitatySociedad.2025.i18.03

Authors

Patricia Fraile-Garrido Polytechnic University of Madrid https://orcid.org/0009-0006-5865-7146
Inés Martín-Robles University of Virginia https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9160-6064

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.12795/HabitatySociedad.2025.i18.03

Keywords:

Zionism, palestinian refugees, UNRWA, mission survey, TVA

Abstract

This article examines the relationship between labor and agency in Jewish transit camps (ma’abarot) and Palestinian refugee camps. Labor was essential to both Zionist state-building and refugee management, serving as a tool of control and integration. In the kibbutz and ma’abarot, labor was associated with Zionist ideals of self-realization and “conquest of labor,” but it also created dependency and reinforced inequalities. Similarly, early UNRWA camps adopted developmentalist approaches inspired by Western modernization, prioritizing the infrastructure of host countries over the aspirations of refugees. Nevertheless, both types of camps became spaces of resistance where residents took control through community and informal building initiatives. These actions challenged institutional structures and highlighted the tension between forced construction as a tool of colonization and construction as a form of cultural and political expression, highlighting the complex interplay between architecture, labor, and agency.

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Author Biographies

Patricia Fraile-Garrido, Polytechnic University of Madrid

Patricia Fraile-Garrido (Palencia, 1987) is an architect and educator whose research focuses on collaborative processes in architecture and urban design. Since receiving her degree in architecture from ETSAM in 2014, she has been committed to teaching, research, and practice in various contexts in the United States and Europe, developing her work through interdisciplinary approaches. Fraile-Garrido is currently a doctoral student at the Polytechnic University of Madrid, where she also worked as an assistant professor from 2018 to 2019.

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Inés Martín-Robles, University of Virginia

Inés Martín-Robles (Salamanca, 1976). Architect from the Madrid School of Architecture-Polytechnic University of Madrid (2002) and PhD from the Higher Polytechnic School-CEU San Pablo University (2017, international mention). Associate Professor at the School of Architecture, University of Virginia, USA (2015). Her research focuses on the survival of the past through tradition and the role of memory in architectural design methodology. She has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals such as Constelaciones (2014, 2018), Ra (2014, 2020), Zarch (2014, 2015), REIA (2014), RITA (2014, 2018), Informes de la Construcción (2020), Bac (2015, 2017), VLC (2014, 2016, 2020), Cuaderno de Notas (2016), Arquitetura Revista (2016), Cuadernos de Proyectos Arquitectónicos (2016), Revista Urbano (2015); chapters in books for publishers Routledge (2022), Ediciones Asimetricas (2016, 2020), Nobuko (2014); she is co-author of the book “La Tradición en Julio Cano Lasso” (2020) by Rueda.

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