Conclusions

After talking to men who have migrated to live in Ramallah about their relationships with their families and neighbours, what did I find out this summer?

1. Extended families and distant neighbours
When people move to Ramallah they maintain good relationships with their families in their place of origin. However, few migrants know their neighbours in Ramallah very well. This creates a binary between family (spatially distant, socially close) and neighbours (spatially close, socially distant). Social relations become stretched across space. Further research might explore women and children’s social relations, since they may not conform to this pattern.

2. Rethinking the city

Ramallah is currently thought about as a bounded space in various ways (e.g. Bantustan, enclave, bubble). Ramallah is the political and economic centre, and thus quite different from other Palestinian cities. However, it is also connected with those cities and villages through the lives of migrants. The movement of people, money, knowledge, and goods (esp. food) between Ramallah and other parts of the West Bank (e.g. through weekly visits, telephone calls, financial transfers) suggests that the city can be thought of as a series of emotional, social, economic and political networks that stretch across the West Bank. The city is thus not just buildings and infrastructure, but also people.

3. Political economy and affective atmospheres

Migrants experiences of Ramallah must be understood in the context of changing political and economic relations. They must also be understood in relation to the atmosphere of the city. Many research participants talked about an atmosphere of ‘freedom’. For different people this meant: 1) freedom from familial & social obligations; 2) freedom to make money; 3) freedom from occupation (although these are all interlinked). This atmosphere is actively produced in various ways by the Authority, the municipalities and by residents themselves. In addition to the political and economic factors that make Ramallah distinct, this atmosphere also defines Ramallah. Further research on this issue is necessary.

And with that, another trip comes to a close.