Spaces of the Poor : Perspectives of Cultural Sciences on Urban Slum Areas and Their Inhabitants

Abstract

The Mainzer Historische Kulturwissenschaften [Mainz Historical Cultural Sciences] series publishes the results of research that develops methods and theories of cultural sciences in connection with empirical research. The central approach is a historical perspective for cultural sciences, whereby both epochs and regions can differ widely and be treated in an all-embracing manner from time to time. The series brings together, among other things, research approaches in archaeology, art history and visualistic, philosophy, literary studies and history, and is open for contributions on the history of knowledge, political culture, the history of perceptions, experiences and life-worlds, as well as other fields of research with a historical cultural scientific orientation.

Community on the Margins: The Social Consolidation of the HaTikvah Neighborhood in the Late Mandate Period and during Early Israeli Statehood

“…In the summary of his report, Alperin stated that the HaTikva neighborhood was "a special problem that requires a radical solution" [103] (pp. 5,6). This was not the first time such a claim had been made.…”

“…The decision to appoint a mukhtar for HaTikvah triggered an additional wave of requests from the residents [47]. The neighborhood committee recommended candidates and, in November 1941, the position of the mukhtar was entrusted to Yeshayahu Israel, an early resident of the neighborhood, who was of Yemeni descent [48] 5 . Alongside the mukhtar, the district officer accredited a committee that was responsible for managing public affairs to serve as an urban planning committee and rent tribunal.…”

“…In his continuing intellectual efforts to reconceptualize the sociological discourse about the urban poor, Wacquant unpacked and contextualized the terms that seek to describe these living environments, such as 'ghetto' [3], and their residents, such as the 'underclass' [4], while advocating for an approach that considers the "diachronic sequence of historical transformation" [3] (p. 9). In 2013, following the work of Wacquant, Pierre Bourdieu, and others, a collected volume of historical cases was published; it sought to overcome "exotification" and "to look at heterogeneities and individuality instead of alleged unambiguousness" of the impoverished urban dwellers, and to perceive them as "actively engaged people who shape the precarious social conditions around them themselves in a process of purposeful adoption" [5].…”

“NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN”:Romany Gypsies, Travellers and their entwined historical relationships with working-class London communities

“…Contrary to a common perception that Gypsies are, and have always been, a rural population, distinct and isolated from "mainstream" communities we demonstrate that there is a long tradition of these peoples living in urban areas alongside working class and migrant populations (Emsley et. al., undated;Petersen, 2013;Winder, 2004). In turn, this "residuum" was regarded with suspicion by both middle-class commentators and the "respectable poor" amongst whom they lived (Garner, 2003;White, 2013;Hitchcock, 2004).…”