Religion, Law, and Intercommunal Relations in Ottoman and British Palestine

FAIN: FA-58032-14

Michelle Ursula Campos
University of Florida (Gainesville, FL 32611-0001)

My book analyzes changing patterns of residential integration and segregation along religious and ethnic lines in Jerusalem from the late 19th century until the eve of the Second World War. Drawing on extensive archival material and approaches at the intersection of urban history, geography, law, religious studies, and urban sociology, at the core of my study lie questions about how this mixed urban space was shared and contested, both on the level of ideas (about ethnic, religious, civic, and national communities) as well as in daily practice due to political and economic exigencies. By examining census and property records, city council minutes, court cases, religious rulings, newspaper accounts, and memoirs, I address the ways in which urban residents mediated countervailing pressures in a shared urban space. While the bulk of my project is devoted to Jerusalem, the most diverse city in Palestine, I also look to other mixed cities in the Middle East for comparative perspective.