Suchergebnisse

Boundary work projects are relevant in any social context, but they seem to carry particular significance in multicultural or multinational and highly contested urban settings. This study examines how daily artifacts such as local newspapers are used by various urban social groups in their local boundary work projects. the analysis is based on the particular case of West Jerusalem, and focuses on how Jewish communities use the popular local Jerusalem newspaper Kol Ha'Ir ("Whole of the City"). the study shows that local newspapers have three functions: (1) they are important components in the local cultural tool kit that various groups use and relate to; (2) they are cultural objects exploited by communities to redefine and regulate their particular identities and to sustain a common ground for local solidarity; and (3) they serve as mechanisms that construct and maintain an ethnonational front toward rival communities within their urban space. This study also suggests that in order to facilitate such a complex task of boundary work, cultural objects must be polysemous. First, they should produce to some degree a consensus among their various consumers on their content and social significance. Second, they should permit a range of interpretations regarding their particular social meaning for each group.

Jerusalem is described as a widow after the destruction of the Temple: "Lonely sits the city Once great with people! She that was great among nations Is become like a widow" (Lamentations 1:1). The significance of Jerusalem the downtrodden being depicted in feminine terms is examined and specifically the implication of her being described as a widow. First, the meaning of widowhood is investigated. Then other metaphors used in the text to describe the desolate city of Jerusalem are examined. Midrashic commentary and life experience are enlisted to elucidate the biblical text. Finally, the metaphors that are used to describe women in this text are compared with similar metaphors used by prophets in other texts. The purpose of this article is to focus on the danger of negative feminine metaphors which depict the sinning city/nation and the power of these metaphors to influence how women are perceived.

Dieses Buch befasst sich mit Israels Sperrmauer zum West-Jordanland und dem Friedensprozess im Nahen Osten.

Jerusalem represents a rather exceptional urban case study because of its unique position as the global center of the three largest monotheistic religions since biblical times. Jerusalem is both a symbolic and tangible focal point in the Israeli Palestinian conflict and competing religious and political narratives have affected the city's development. In this brief text we attempt to capture some of the main themes in Jerusalem's planning history over the past century, navigating through the city towards its contemporary urban reality.