1st Edition
Everyday Life in the Old City of Jerusalem Historical Transformations and Biographical Emplacements
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
1. Jerusalem’s Old City: The Burden of Biography and Ülace
Historical transformations in the Old City
Biography and emplacement
Old City research spaces
Emplacements in Jerusalem’s Old City
Emplacements in biographical trajectories: Constriction, expansion, constancy
Structure of the book
Bibliography
2. Emplacement: Understanding the Link between Biography and Place
Introduction to sociological biographical research
Places: Processual, historical and co-constituted by actors
The perception of places
Emplacement as a biographical perspective
The research process: Research spaces and emplacements
Bibliography
3. A Brief History of East Jerusalem since 1948
Jordanian rule, 1948-1967
The Israeli occupation from 1967
The First Intifada
Increasing control of the Palestinians in Jerusalem
East Jerusalem’s current situation
Bibliography
4. Jerusalem’s Old City: Historical Discussions, Recent History and Current Situation
Jerusalem and the debate about Islamic cities
Different interpretations in historical publications of living together in Jerusalem
How the Old City became a place of outsiders
The Old City of Jerusalem in the Present: Research and Data
Bibliography
5. Community as Challenge and Chance: Emplacements in a Small Neighbourhood
Everyday life and negotiations in the small neighbourhood
Hafez Fuqaha: “Jerusalem doesn’t leave its people”
Muhammad Najjar: Withdrawn from the neighbourhood
Sana Haddad: Seeking neighbourhood community
Bibliography
6. The Toll of Spatial and Biographical Isolation: Palestinian Emplacement in the “Enlarged Jewish Quarter”
Historical outline
Collective memories about past neighbourhoods
Talking to Palestinians in the enlarged Jewish Quarter
Huda Saifi: “I look like Jerusalem with its sadness, brokenness and its defeats”
Amal Abu Sneineh and her son Lutfi: “Millions will die here”
Subhi Amro: “I can’t leave the Old City”
Bibliography
7. Involuntary Emplacement in the Holy City: International Monks in the Old City of Jerusalem
Interviewing monks
Brother Michel: “All my plans were not the plans God had for me”
Brother Macarius: “I’d like to go to another place”
Brother Jean: “I know how to live in such an environment”
Bibliography
8. Conclusion
Bibliography
NOTES
All photographs are by the author unless otherwise noted.
Biography
Johannes Becker is a sociologist specializing in biographical and family research, migration studies, urban and spatial sociology, and historical sociology, with a regional focus on the Middle East and Europe. After completing his PhD (2017) and habilitation (2024), he held research and teaching positions at the University of Göttingen and Leipzig University. He currently leads a project on Assyrian/Syriac migration histories in Germany and Jordan at the Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient in Berlin and serves as President of the RC38 “Biography and Society” in the International Sociological Association.
