On the Way: The Transition of Jerusalem From a Ritual to Colonial City (1800-1917)1

Abstract

This paper attempts to contribute to the anthropology of cities by utilizing two perspectives beyond traditional ethnography: a broad holistic approach to changes in urban form and function, based on Fox's typology of primary urban forms and his notion of cultural settings, and, following Blumin, a middle-level historical analysis of the actual micro changes that take place in urban life as a moves from one type to another. Taking Jerusalem as a case study, I begin by defining and describing the ritual city that existed until the Egyptian conquest of 1831, trace the transition of Jerusalem until its emergence as a city in World War I, and finally evaluate the impact of the colonial experience on the basic form and function of the city. I conclude by suggesting that these two broader approaches open new possibilities for urban anthropological analysis, and provide necessary background for an understanding of ethnographic, as well as general urban realities. A few years ago Richard Fox (1977) addressed the lack of holistic frameworks in urban anthropology by presenting a typology of cities based upon their ideological, economic, and political relationships to the wider societies of which they are a part. Using an interactional approach, Fox suggested five primary urban forms (regal-ritual cities, administrative cities, mercantile cities, colonial cities, and industrial cities), each with its specific function within the

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