Daniel Monterescu Livres

Exploring the complexities of mixed towns in Israel/Palestine, this volume delves into the interplay between modernity and nationalism, highlighting how these factors contribute to social dynamics and urban growth. It addresses the violent conflicts over land and identity that arise in these diverse socio-spatial configurations, offering a nuanced understanding of inter-communal relations within modern urban spaces.

"Multiethnic cities--where the political "other" is also a neighbor--play a pivotal role in situations of long-term conflict, and few places have been more marked by the tension between intimate proximity and visceral hostility than Jaffa, one of the "mixed towns" of Israel/Palestine. Daniel Monterescu argues that such places challenge our assumptions about national identity and challenge the Israeli state's goal of maintaining homogeneous, segregated, and ethnically stable spaces. In this nuanced ethnographic and historical study, he analyzes everyday interactions, life histories, and uses of space, describing the politics of gentrification and the circumstantial coalitions that define the city. Drawing on key theorists in anthropology, sociology, urban studies, and political science he outlines a relational theory of sociality and spatiality"--

The city of Jaffa presents a paradox: intimate neighbors who are political foes. The official Jewish national tale proceeds from exile to redemption and nation-building, while the Palestinians' is one of a golden age cut short, followed by dispossession and resistance. The experiences of Jaffa's Jewish and Arab residents, however, reveal lives and nationalist sentiments far more complex. Twilight Nationalism shares the stories of ten of the city's elders--women and men, rich and poor, Muslims, Jews, and Christians--to radically deconstruct these national myths and challenge common understandings of belonging and alienation. Through the stories told at life's end, Daniel Monterescu and Haim Hazan illuminate how national affiliation ultimately gives way to existential circumstances. Similarities in lives prove to be shaped far more by socioeconomic class, age, and gender than national allegiance, and intersections between stories usher in a politics of existence in place of politics of identity. In offering the real stories individuals tell about themselves, this book reveals shared perspectives too long silenced and new understandings of local community previously lost in nationalist narratives.