Mattias Kärrholm
Researcher
‘Welcome to the Mayor’s Sukkah!’ : On the spatial, performative, and cultural politics of Safra Square, Jerusalem
Author
Summary, in English
This paper introduces a work-in-progress devoted to analysing the architectural design, public-performative functionality, and cultural-political semiotics of the Safra Square (ספרא כיכר, Kikar Safra) and City Hall complex, Western Jerusalem. Built around the historic Town Hall of the British Governate, and inaugurated in 1993, the City Hall complex is strategically located along the bustling pedestrian and commercial Jaffa Street, just west of the Green Line, and immediately north of the Old City walls. This threshold location is replete with historic and political significance, as narratively and visually expressed in the design and decoration of the square: its multiple memorials, artefacts, and other spatial interventions celebrate ‘unified’ Jerusalem under Israeli administration (post 1967 occupation). It is also a social-cultural hotspot, employed in official and unofficial manifestation, mobilization, and protest, as well as public festivities, and religious fixtures.
As a threshold space and showcase, the square plays an imperative role in establishing and voicing different rhythms and refrains at both local, urban, and national levels. Our paper introduces an inventory of how its design and spatial practices relate to visual-narrative and political-performative dynamics. How can we trace and conceptualise its processes of territorialization and hegemonic normalization, both within and beyond its own borders? How can we, in other words, take measure of Safra Square as a concomitantly multi-territorial and homophonic political actant; as a stage for everyday leisure, urban-nationalist imaginaries, and cultural violence?
As a threshold space and showcase, the square plays an imperative role in establishing and voicing different rhythms and refrains at both local, urban, and national levels. Our paper introduces an inventory of how its design and spatial practices relate to visual-narrative and political-performative dynamics. How can we trace and conceptualise its processes of territorialization and hegemonic normalization, both within and beyond its own borders? How can we, in other words, take measure of Safra Square as a concomitantly multi-territorial and homophonic political actant; as a stage for everyday leisure, urban-nationalist imaginaries, and cultural violence?
Department/s
- Islamic Studies
- History of Religions and Religious Behavioural Science
- MECW: The Middle East in the Contemporary World
- Centre for Advanced Middle Eastern Studies (CMES)
- Architecture and Culture
Publishing year
2024-08-23
Language
English
Document type
Conference paper: abstract
Topic
- Philosophy, Ethics and Religion
Keywords
- Jerusalem
- public space
- nationalism
- cultural violence
Conference name
Third Annual Swedish Middle East and North Africa Network (SWEMENA) Conference
Conference date
2024-08-22 - 2024-08-23
Conference place
Lund, Sweden
Status
Published
Research group
- Architecture and Culture