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Ram, Moriel and Aharon-Gutman, Meirav (2017) 'Strongholding the Synagogue to Stronghold the City: Urban-Religious Configurations in an Israeli Mixed-City.' Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, 108 (5). pp. 641-655.

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Abstract

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.

Item Type: Journal Article
Keywords: Religion, Israel‐Palestine, mixed cities, synagogues, urban‐religious configuration
SOAS Departments & Centres: Departments and Subunits > School of Languages, Cultures & Linguistics
ISSN: 14679663
Copyright Statement: © 2017 Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG. This is the version of the article accepted for publication in Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie published by Wiley https://doi.org/10.1111/tesg.12231
DOI (Digital Object Identifier): https://doi.org/10.1111/tesg.12231
Date Deposited: 15 May 2019 08:37
URI: https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/id/eprint/31017

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