Binational cities play a pivotal role in situations of long-term conflict, and few places have been more marked by the tension between intimate proximity and visceral hostility than Jaffa, one of the "mixed towns" of Israel/Palestine. In this nuanced ethnographic and historical study, Daniel Monterescu argues that such places challenge our assumptions about cities and nationalism, calling into question the Israeli state's policy of maintaining homogeneous, segregated, and ethnically stable spaces. Analyzing everyday interactions, life stories, and histories of violence, he reveals the politics of gentrification and the circumstantial coalitions that define the city. Drawing on key theorists in anthropology, sociology, urban studies, and political science, he outlines a new relational theory of sociality and spatiality.

About the Author

Daniel Monterescu is Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology, Central European University. He is author (with Haim Hazan) of A Town at Sundown: Aging Nationalism in Jaffa and editor (with Dan Rabinowitz) of Mixed Towns, Trapped Communities: Historical Narratives, Spatial Dynamics, Gender Relations and Cultural Encounters in Palestinian-Israeli Towns.

Reviews

The book's analysis of the relations between the political, the cultural, and the neoliberal economy through a historical engagement with the city of Jaffa is a significant contribution to understanding the complexity of life for Jaffa's residents.

* Journal of Levantine Studies *

Anybody with an interest in the politics and sociology of Israeli/Palestinian relations needs to read this book. Daniel Monterescu provides a rich and theoretically sophisticated account of urban politics in Jaffa.

* Perspectives on Politics *

In showing how Jaffa is both shared and shattered, the book is an important and timely contribution to ongoing debates about mutual relations between Palestinians and Israelis in the context of recurring conflict, entrenched inequality and ongoing colonisation. It is essential reading for everyone interested in contemporary Palestinian-Israeli relations and should be of particular interest to political and urban anthropologists.

* Social Anthropology *

For anyone who would like to understand the experience of living as a member of the minority Arab population in a 'mixed' city in Israel, then Jaffa is both the place and the study to read. . . [T]his is a well-researched, very worthwhile excursus into a complicated societal problem. . . . Highly recommended.

* Choice *

Jaffa Shared and Shattered is a rich and provocative addition to the scholarly literature on Palestine/ Israel and urban studies.

* American Ethnologist *



Book Information
ISBN 9780253016775
Author Daniel Monterescu
Format Paperback
Page Count 384
Imprint Indiana University Press
Publisher Indiana University Press
Weight(grams) 594g