Architectures (of buildings and social life)

I was talking with a friend who lives in Ramallah on an almost permanent basis, and he was telling me about the new apartments and houses being built in Ateera, a suburb of Ramallah that is rapidly expanding the city northwards. Apparently, and I have glimpsed this myself, the buildings are following the identikit terracing style of Israeli settlements. This colonial mimesis is fascinating, and mirrors an earlier example where affluent Palestinians used (and continue to use) red roof tiles to decorate their houses. These tiles, which are another distinctive feature of Israeli settlements, date back to the British Occupation of Palestine. I would be fascinated to learn the extent to which the use of the tiles on settlement buildings draws on this colonial history.

My final Thursday night story is about my final experience at the bar we were in. As we were leaving, we (and I emphasize the collective nature of this experience) saw a woman near the entrance who was wearing shorts (kind of skirt like ones). Although many people at that bar were Westerners, and have seen many women wear shorts and short skirts, this sight was stunning. People were literally stood still staring at her. The reason is that women always cover their legs in public in Palestine. Even in liberal Ramallah, where tight tops and jeans are the norm, this was an unexpected (and for me unprecedented) sight. It was also interesting to reflect (the next day) on the ways in which a place can socialize the people that constitute it (rather than the other way around). Even though this would have been the most banal and ordinary event if I had been in Europe or North America, a different space produced an entirely different affective and cognitive response.