I would like to start off by saying that the extent of my knowledge regarding Jerusalem, and even Israel prior to enrolling in this class, has been limited to what I have learned historically following World War II, what I learned while attending Catholic grade and high school, and what I have learned through modern news/media outlets. So bear with me if I take a few class sessions to be somewhat knowledgeable about this information.
That being said, I found the two readings written by Suad Amiry to be both interesting, and helpful in getting a better understanding of the different aspects of Jerusalem. In the article titled "Representing Jerusalem" Suad Amiry speaks about the difficulties in reperesenting both the Palestinian and Israeli aspects of life in Jerusalem while in Washington. The main issue that the Palestinian team faced in preparing a well-planned representation of their Jerusalem, was that when taken out of their natural contexts, a lot of Palestinian culture would not be understood as well as they would like. An example Amiry gives of this is the multitude of women street peddlers that Amiry believes is one cultural symbol of Palestinian Jerusalem. Amiry believes that trying to represent that at a mall in Washington would not have the desired effect on the audience.
Another issue raised by Amiry was having trouble performing large scale religious rituals at a public mall. I can definitely understand this, because when I think of religious ceremonies I think of being inside a church, temple, chapel, synagogue, mosque, etc. rather than being a public shopping center.
In conclusion, after having read this weeks readings, I feel I already have a more informed understanding of Jerusalem and all of its complexities.
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