Social and Spatial Justice: The Home as a Contact Zone in Israel - Palestine

This lecture presents the added value and knowledge of a micro geography research entitled: ‘The Address Project’ that is currently carried out in Israeli – Palestinian contested urban spaces in Jaffa and West Jerusalem. ‘The Address Project’ suggests a critical perspective on social and spatial justice engaged in urban regeneration projects taken place in ethno - national urban contested spaces. We suggest to view them as expressions of colonialism in process. This approach incorporates mediation processes  between different temporalities – that is -  between past Palestinian and current Jewish residents in specific addresses. The home  is perceived as a contact zone using Pratt’s (1994) definition.

The ‘contact’ is not a physical, tangible zone but rather, a symbolic , non - tangible and  discursive contact zone that  represents another dimension of colonialism as a process . The contribution of this research is threefold: Theoretically, it aims to expose the different nuances of colonialism as they are expressed in each of the addresses investigated. Methodologically, it proposes a new micro geographic analysis of Archives as expressions of colonialism in process. Practically, it aspires to expose the historiographies of the homes to students and the Israeli public as well as planners and decision makers in order to promote change in attitudes and perceptions towards the ‘other’.  For that purpose we mapped some 20 addresses in both cities and carried out an historiographical research of each address . Each address tells us a different story, discourse, conflict , expression of colonialism and urban contestation in a specific home which together will offer a new understanding of colonialism as process.

Speaker biography
Professor Tovi Fenster is the head of the department of geography and human environment at Tel Aviv University. She teaches social and cultural geography, urban planning, gender and geography. She has published articles and book chapters on ethnicity, citizenship and gender in planning and development. She is the founder and head of PECLAB (http://peclab.tau.ac.il/) (2007-today); She is the former NCJW Women and Gender Studies Program Head (2007-2009). Former Head of the Institute of Diplomacy and Regional Cooperation (2011-2012). Past Chair of IGU Gender and Geography Commission (2004-2008). In 1999, she has been one of the founders and has been the first Chair (2000-2003) of  Bimkom-Planners for Planning Rights in Israel(NGO). She currently serves as Bimkom’s President.