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

Ram, Moriel; Aharon-Gutman, Meirav

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Authors

Moriel Ram

Meirav Aharon-Gutman



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.

Citation

Ram, M., & Aharon-Gutman, M. (2017). Strongholding the Synagogue to Stronghold the City: Urban-Religious Configurations in an Israeli Mixed-City. Journal of Economic and Human Geography, 108(5), 641-655. https://doi.org/10.1111/tesg.12231

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Sep 28, 2016
Online Publication Date Jan 11, 2017
Publication Date Oct 1, 2017
Deposit Date May 15, 2019
Publicly Available Date May 15, 2019
Print ISSN 0040-747X
Electronic ISSN 1467-9663
Publisher Wiley
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 108
Issue 5
Pages 641-655
DOI https://doi.org/10.1111/tesg.12231
Keywords Religion, Israel‐Palestine, mixed cities, synagogues, urban‐religious configuration

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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





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