Strongholding the Synagogue to Stronghold the City: Urban-Religious Configurations in an Israeli Mixed-City

Main author: Ram, Moriel
Other authors: Aharon-Gutman, Meirav
Format: Journal Article           
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id eprints-31017
recordtype eprints
institution SOAS, University of London
collection SOAS Research Online
language English
language_search English
description This article explores the geopolitical significance of public religious institutions and the ways in which it has corresponded to changes in their urban environment. Based on a spatial analysis and ethnography of urban synagogues in the northern Israeli mixed city of Acre that were established and constructed by communities of Jewish immigrants from North African countries, we demonstrate how significant shifts in the city's demographic pattern and landscape have affected these institutions' ascribed functions and meanings. We theorise this dynamic as ‘strongholding’, or, more specifically, strongholding the synagogue as a means of strongholding the city. The formation of the synagogue as a stronghold is enacted through a dual configuration process by which the religious legitimacy, which the synagogue bestows on those who maintain it, is interwoven into a broader urban sociopolitical struggle to claim a presence in the city.
format Journal Article
author Ram, Moriel
author_facet Ram, Moriel
Aharon-Gutman, Meirav
authorStr Ram, Moriel
author_letter Ram, Moriel
author2 Aharon-Gutman, Meirav
author2Str Aharon-Gutman, Meirav
title Strongholding the Synagogue to Stronghold the City: Urban-Religious Configurations in an Israeli Mixed-City
publisher Wiley
publishDate 2017
url https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/31017/