Alternate Routes: Interpretive Trails, Resistance, and the View from East Jerusalem

Abstract

Interpretive trails organize knowledge and power in ways quite unlike museums and discrete archaeological sites. While other heritage places tend to privilege sight, trails are designed to be ‘read’ through multiple senses, allowing for the trail narrative to be embodied as the visitor moves through it. This paper explores the potentially harmful consequences of this process when developed without community consent, and considers possible ‘alternate routes’ employed by community activists. The paper is organized around a case study of the interpretive trail at the City of David archaeological park, managed by an Israeli settler group, which winds through the Palestinian village of Silwan in East Jerusalem. The interpretive strategies of the official trail are compared to those used by an activist group that leads alternative tours through the park and provides its own guidebook with modified routes. The comparison illustrates an effective model for community resistance using the discursive space of cultural heritage as an arena for transformative practice.

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