Ephraim Kishon / Sallah Shabati (1964)

Mizrahis through Ashkenazi eyes. In this Israeli cult movie, Ephraim Kishon, a Hungarian-born Jew, successful author, columnist and film director in Israel and Germany,  depicts the Israeli clash of civilizations and the encounter between Yemenite immigrants and Ashkenazi establishment, and transcribes, creates and reproduces clichés and stereotypes of Mizrahi Jews. All the leading actors are Ashkenazis, including the main role, the Yemenite new immigrant Sallah Shabati played by Ashkenazi actor Chaim Topol.

Further reading:
- Ella Shohat, Israeli Cinema: East/West and the Politics of Representation (London: I. B. Taurus, 2010)

Ella Habiba Shohat / Reflections By An Arab Jew

 I am an Arab Jew. Or, more specifically, an Iraqi Israeli woman living, writing and teaching in the U.S. Most members of my family were born and raised in Baghdad, and now live in Iraq, Israel, the U.S., England, and Holland. When my grandmother first encountered Israeli society in the '50s, she was convinced that the people who looked, spoke and ate so differently--the European Jews--were actually European Christians. Jewishness for her generation was inextricably associated with Middle Easterness. My grandmother, who still lives in Israel and still communicates largely in Arabic, had to be taught to speak of "us" as Jews and "them" as Arabs. For Middle Easterners, the operating distinction had always been "Muslim," "Jew," and "Christian," not Arab versus Jew. The assumption was that "Arabness" referred to a common shared culture and language, albeit with religious differences.
[...]
continue reading: http://www.bintjbeil.com/E/occupation/arab_jew.html


Ella Habiba Shohat is Professor of Cultural Studies and Women's Studies at CUNY. A writer, orator and activist, she is the author of Israeli Cinema: East/West and the Politics of Representation (Univ. of Texas Press, 1989) and the co-author (with Robert Stam) of Unthinking Eurocentrism: Multiculturalism and the Media (Routledge 1994). Shohat co-edited Dangerous Liaisons: Gender, Nation and Postcolonial Reflections (University of Minnesota Press, 1997) and is the editor of Talking Visions: Multicultural Feminism in a Transnational Age, (MIT Press/The New Museum, 2000). She writes often for such journals as Social Text and the Journal for Palestine Studies.

Urban Renewal: Accessibility and Culture in Ir Ganim

Urban Renewal: Accessibility and Culture in Ir Ganim

A Background to Urban Poverty

Periodic Table of Urban Poverty. Hannah Schneiderman.

A Closer Look:

Homelessness

Homeless Person. Qamar Sibtain.

Atypical Slum

Torre David. Interior View. ©Iwan Baan.

Slum

 Kibera Slum, Wikipedia Commons.

Refugee Camp

 Dadaab Refugee Camp. worldhelp.net.

Dilapidated Urbanism

Poverty in Camden New Jersey. Alan Tu/WHYY.

Government Housing Project

Pruitt-Igoe Housing Project, St. Louis. Wikipedia Commons.

The Modernist Project

+ Post World War II population boom worldwide

+ Subsequent attempt to house large urban populations,

largely low-income

+ Projects universally followed values and design of the

Modernist Movement

+ Built until the 1970s, when global building trends

changed

+ First modern attempt to house the urban poor

Pruitt-Igoe in it's Hay-day. Missouri History Museum

1972 Implosion of the Pruitt-Igoe Housing Project, St. Louis. The Pruitt-Igoe Myth press materials.

The Israeli Housing Project

Architecture of Jerusalem's Low-Income Neighborhoods

Map of Jerusalem Poverty. Adapted from CBS Map.

Haredi Jerusalem

Main Street in Meah Shearim. Anthony Baratier.

Meah She'arim

Founded: 1874

Urban Style: crowded narrow streets, late 18th century planning

Building Style: assorted low urban buildings, many building additions

East Jerusalem

Issawiya. Wikipedia Commons.

Issawiya

Population: 13,571

Founded: unkwnown (had 650 residents in 1940); incorporated into Jerusalem Municipality in 1967

Urban Style: rural; village-like urban design

Building Style: low, urban buildings and older free-standing house

Shikunim

Neighborhoods Built as Government Housing Projects

Kiryat Yovel. Jerusalem Shots.

Kiryat Yovel

Population: 25,000

Founded: 1952

Urban Style: modernist planning style, in oppostion to streets

Building Style: mid-century Israeli housing blocks; massive and egalitarian; simple

stucco rather than Jerusalem white stone

Jerusalem Periphery - Shikun Neighborhoods

Shikun Neighborhoods: Buffer. Background Image from GIS Jerusalem. Hannah Schneiderman.



Kiryat Menachem and Ir Ganim

Kiryat Menachem and Ir Ganim. Background Image from GIS Jerusalem. Hannah Schneiderman

Kiryat Menachem and Ir Ganim: A History

Waadi HaAsbestonim

Maabara predecessor to Kiryat Menachem, Ir Ganim, and Kiryat Yovel

Waadi HaAsbestonim. National Archive.

Waadi HaAsbestonim. National Archive.

Waadi HaAsbestonim. National Archive.

Waadi HaAsbestonim. National Archive.

The Neighborhood Now

Area Map. Background Image from GIS Jerusalem. Hannah Schneiderman.

Neighborhood Map. Background Image from GIS Jerusalem. Hannah Schneiderman.

A Neighborhood in the Mountains

Model of Ir Ganim: View of Waadi. Hannah Schneiderman.

A Peek into the Neighborhood

Kiryat Menachem. Hannah Schneiderman

Ir Ganim Gimmel. Hannah Schneiderman

Kiryat Menachem. Hannah Schneiderman.

A Cross Section of the Neighborhood

Comparative Household Size

Compared to the OECD average for householdsize (2.4 members), Israel as a whole has a signifcantly larger family size(3.3 members). And Jerusalem,a city with very large household size, has a whole member more than the already high Israel average (4.26).

In Ir Ganim, the household size is almost evenly split between couples or singles and moderate sized families. The average family size in Ir Ganim is more on par with Israel as a whole than Jerusalem, most likely because of it's mostly secular/national religious makeup.

Ir Ganim Average Household Size

In Ir Ganim, the househould size is almost evenly split between couples or singles and moderate sized families. The average family size is Ir Ganim is more on par with Israel as a whole than Jerusalem, most likely because of it's mostly secular/national religious makeup.

National Average Household Incomes
(Average v. Minimum Wage)

 While average Jerusalem salaries are almost twice the national minimum wage, they are still more than 2,500 shekels less than the national average.

Ir Ganim Average Household Incomes

Almost half, a full 49 %, of the residents of Ir Ganim earn the minimum wage or less. A similar amount of residents, 48 % earn up to 2 times the national average. Only 2 % of residents make more than that.

With an average rental price of 2970 shekels in Ir Ganim, residents earning the minimum wage of 4650 shekels will have great difficulty paying rent and living expenses.

Average Apartment Prices
(Ir Ganim v Israel)
 

As housing prices across Israel continue to rise, Jerusalem has some of the most expensive real estate in the country. More than 50 % higher than the national, an average apartment in Jerusalem costs almost 2 million shekels.

The average price in Ir Ganim, at 784,796 shekels, is less than half of the average price in Jerusalem.

Units Rented Out Nationwide 

Jerusalem, as a whole, has 32 % of housing units occupied by renters. This is significantly higher than the national average.

Rent v Own - Ir Ganim 

Ir Ganim has 36 % of its housing units rented out. This is 4 points higher than the average in Jerusalem, already much higher than the national average. This many renters says a lot about the high vulnerability of Ir Ganim's residents.

Main Neighborhood Difficulties

Transportation

Proximity

Lack of Services in the Neighborhood

Places of Employment:

2

Commercial:

4

Cultural:

7

Structural Condition of the Neighborhood

Ir Ganim Building. Hannah Schneiderman

Ir Ganim Building. Hannah Schneiderman

Ir Ganim Building. Hannah Schneiderman

"Distressed" Buildings

Rating the Buildings

Monstrosity, Ir Ganim. Hannah Schneiderman

 Ir Ganim Tower. Hannah Schneiderman

  Ir Ganim Tower. Hannah Schneiderman

"Train Buildings". Ir Ganim. Hannah Schneiderman

Topography: Vertical Islands

Not to Forget the Assets

Green Areas of Jerusalem

City's Proposed "Green Belt"

A Picturesque Valley

 Park Bustania. Hannah Schneiderman

  Park Bustania. Hannah Schneiderman

View from the Bottom of Ir Ganim. Hannah Schneiderman

Issues v Assets

Problems

+ Far from city and its services

+ Lack of cultural and other facilities

in area

+ Problematic topography that prevents

access to assets in area

Assets

+ Beautiful valley that could be

enjoyed by both residents of the

neighborhood and visitors from the

rest of the city

A Solution

Improve Access

Connect the dis-separate levels of the neighborhood making the valley easily accessible to all.

Collage of Proposal to Connect Levels. Hannah Schneiderman.

Ir Ganim Nature and Arts Center

A building that fits within the natural landscape; will be a hub for the future "green belt"; will provide services for the neighborhood and will serve visitors from around the city.

Abandoned Building in Taiwan, cock-a-doodle-doo.

A center such as this has the ability to provide for a cultural void within the neighborhood (and add much needed community spaces to bring people together), while simultaneously bringing outsiders in to re-energize the area.

Examples of Similar Projects

Nature Center in Copenhagen

Visitors Center of EFFEKT, Arch Daily

Trinity River Audubon Center

Dallas, Texas. brwarchitects.