Divided Cities in the Middle East

Silver, Hilary

doi:10.1111/j.1540-6040.2010.01348.x

Cited by 31 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Cohen ; Barth 1969). The result today is a diverse collection of materials analysing ‘divided’, ‘mixed’, ‘segregated’ or ‘contested’ cities (for example, see Marcuse ; Silver ; Calame and Charlesworth ; Pullan and Baillie ; Yacobi and Shechter ) and a growing body of ethnographic work on the subject (e.g. Borneman ; Rabinowitz 1997; Abowd ; Caldeira ; for a different kind of segregation cf.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A tale of two cities: the production of difference in a Mediterranean border enclave

Bermant¹

2015

Social Anthropology/Anthropologie Sociale

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In this article, I explore how Christians and Muslims are produced as separate and mutually exclusive communities in the Spanish North African enclave of Melilla. I argue that while the constitution of these groups as 'communities' is the result of a long history of unequal power relations and socio-spatial segregation, the reproduction of the boundaries between the two depends on the active transmission of particular codes of conduct and modes of behaviour in the public sphere. It is through these discursive and bodily practices that difference is actively produced.One half of the world knoweth not how the other half liveth … Rabelais, PantagruelWhen I started my research in Melilla, a small Spanish enclave located on the northeastern coast of Morocco, only a handful of people outside Spain and North Africa even noticed its existence. The enclave had made international headlines briefly during 2005, when hundreds of migrants wanting to reach Europe rushed Melilla's security fence. But interest waned quickly, and by the time I began fieldwork in 2008, Melilla was all but forgotten elsewhere. It was the first day of Ramadan, a late afternoon in early September. The stores were closed and the streets empty as people slept through the heat. I was looking for a city map and at Melilla's central roundabout, the Plaza de España, I approached a young boy working in a newsstand to ask the whereabouts of Melilla's tourist office. He looked me over, frowning in confusion, until I repeated the question. He hesitated before responding: 'But, what is that, Muslim or Christian?' The general question organising this essay concerns the ways in which the pair Christian/Muslim plays out in Melilla. The essay is organised in three sections. The first traces the production of 'Christians' and 'Muslims' as legal and political subjects, and examines a tumultuous episode in the enclave's recent history to explore the relationship between citizenship, ethnicity and inequality. The second section turns to representation and discursive action. I examine how old religious-nationalist tropes have merged with a new discourse of multiculturalism, and explore the dialectic between these to show the centrality of the Christian/Muslim divide in the construction of Melilla as a place. Finally, the third section embarks on a tentative analysis of the ways in which fabricating 'Christians' and 'Muslims' as distinct from each other requires a continuous and active process that is played out in the domain of everyday sociality. 450 Social Anthropology/Anthropologie Sociale (2015) 23, 4 450-464.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A tale of two cities: the production of difference in a Mediterranean border enclave

Bermant¹

2015

Social Anthropology/Anthropologie Sociale

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“…The simplistic reference to global economic restructuring and the polarization of income structures fails for example to account for the variety of local outcomes and for the role of local governance (Hamnett 2003; van Kempen 2007; Preteceille 2000). Assessing the degree of violence of urban conflicts is equally unsatisfying: to note that racial polarization in American cities does not compare with sectarian violence in the Middle East, where cities are split “right down the middle, with social boundaries marked by barricades, checkpoints, and walls” (Silver 2010, p. 345) does not offer us information about the nature of the conflicts. One could instead positively compare Belfast to Baltimore as far as the yearly number of violent deaths is concerned, or note that between 1967 and the 1990s the area of Jerusalem still represented a functional metropolitan unit despite the ongoing Israeli‐Palestinian tensions.…”

Section: The Divided Cities Literature: a Critiquementioning

confidence: 99%

The Political Geographies of Urban Polarization: A Critical Review of Research on Divided Cities

2012

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This article aims at providing a review of various streams of literature dealing with the spatial fragmentation of cities. In the last two decades many different contributions emphasized the growing fragmentation of the urban environment; the idea of “divided city” covers a multiplicity of approaches, methodologies and field of research. Still, the “divided city” literature tends to elevate a small number of cities to paradigmatic examples and to focus on abstract categories based on single factor explanations of urban fragmentation. The article, while accepting the hypothesis that the urban context is increasingly fragmented, argues that systems of coordinates – more than a taxonomy or a hierarchy – is needed to make sense of this phenomenon and draw significan comparison between cities. The article also maintains that a significant angle to look at urban polarization relates to the configuration of urban governance and political power. The article therefore considers three main areas connected to the distinction between polity, politics, and policy – and the three corresponding ideal‐types of partitioned, contested and discrete city – where the conflict focuses respectively on the jurisdictional shape of governance, the degrees and venues of access to decision‐making, and frame and contents of public policies.

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“…Equally challenging is applying the RTC to divided cities — where socio‐spatial divisions are starkest. Broader geopolitical conflicts are largely characterized by hostile struggles to control space (Bollens, 1998; 2012; Kliot and Mansfeld, ; Silver, ). Despite differences in their histories and the nature of their conflicts, these divided cities have important similarities such as multi‐layered divisions between social groups (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Whose Right toJerusalem?

Rosen

Shlay

2014

Int J Urban Regional Res

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Jerusalem is a city mired in spatial conflict. Its contested spaces represent deep conflicts among groups that vary by national identity, religion, religiosity and gender. The omnipresent nature of these conflicts provides an opportunity to look at Henri Lefebvre's concept of the right to the city (RTC). The RTC has been adopted and celebrated as a political tool for positive change, enabling communities to take control of space. Based on extensive fieldwork and in-depth interviews, this article explores the complexity of the RTC principles and examines three urban battlefields in Jerusalem -Bar-Ilan Street, the Kotel and the Orient House. The RTC is a powerful idea, providing the opportunity to examine people's everyday activities within the context of how space can be used to support their lives. Yet Jerusalem's myriad divisions produce claims by different groups to different parts of the city. In Jerusalem, the RTC is not a clear vision but a kaleidoscope of rights that produces a fragmented landscape within a religious and ethno-national context governed by the nation state -Israel. The growth of cultural and ethnic diversity in urban areas may limit the possibility for a unified RTC to emerge in an urban sea of demands framed by difference. Space-based cultural conflict exemplifies urban divisions and exacerbates claims to 'my Jerusalem', not 'our Jerusalem'. Identity-based claims to the RTC appear to work against, not for, a universalistic RTC.

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Divided Cities in the Middle East

Cited by 31 publications

References 18 publications

A tale of two cities: the production of difference in a Mediterranean border enclave

A tale of two cities: the production of difference in a Mediterranean border enclave

The Political Geographies of Urban Polarization: A Critical Review of Research on Divided Cities

Whose Right toJerusalem?

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