Week 1

As I read this week’s readings, I quickly became aware of a common theme. In each reading the difficulty of contextualizing Jerusalem at the Washington Mall was expressed.

An interview with Suad Amiry was conducted that focused on her explanation of why the festival was postponed.  The question “What is your most difficult problem?” was posed to Amiry.  She explained that it was very difficult to contextualize Jerusalem; the Palestinian team was motivated to express the reality of everyday life which includes the miseries of bad housing, economic problems, etc. instead of conveying Jerusalem as the center of 3 religions (the way in which it was often seen by individuals abroad).  I was very surprised when I read that Amiry wanted to use the harsh realities of Jerusalem point of focus for this folklore festival.  I understand that ignoring the truth would not be productive, however during a period of time in which negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis were talking place, I assumed that the goal would be to focus on more positive aspects of the rich and unique culture of Jerusalem. 

As I continued reading I was reassured when Amiry stated in “Researching East Jerusalem” that the Jerusalem festival was “a valuable cultural venue to promote understanding, respect, and mutuality between our 2 peoples”. This led gave me a much more optimistic feeling about the inspiration of the festival.  However, it also crossed my mind that that the 2 goals of mentioned above by Amiry were extremely conflicting.  It is important to keep in mind that in addition to the Palestinian research team, the Israeli research team had their own distinct ideas about what how Jerusalem should be contextualized for the festival.  Given the fact that there are so many diverging opinions and ideas of how Jerusalem should be manifested, it makes sense that the planning for this festival came to a halt. 

At the end of “Researching East Jerusalem” Albert stated the quote “Jerusalem is a city where people are carrying mirrors. One holds a  mirror in one direction.  It is a city of many realities: every individual or community has a mirror of history of cultural realities. As a true Jerusalemite, if I can call myself that, I carry my mirror, but I respect all other mirrors.  The problem is when one big mirror seeks to marginalize all other mirrors except for itself”.  I found this quote extremely interesting and very applicable to the situation of the festival.  To Jerusalmites and outsiders it is obvious that Jerusalem consists of numerous diverging and opposing cultures.  Unlike the author, not all Jerusalmites are able to respect each other’s “mirrors” and only strive for their own to exist.  I believe that this accurately depicts the problem researchers had contextualizing Jerusalem for the festival.  Since groups of Jerusalemites each had a different idea of how Jerusalem should be represented and did not respect all of the existing “mirrors”, there was no possible way to contextualize Jerusalem in a unifying way.