Bordered Cities and Divided Societies is a provocative, moving, and poetic encounter with the hearts and minds of individuals living in nine cities of conflict, violence, and healing―Jerusalem, Belfast, Johannesburg, Nicosia, Sarajevo, Mostar, Barcelona, Bilbao, and Beirut. Based on research spanning 25 years, including 360 interviews and over two and a half years of in-country field research, this innovative work employs a series of concise reflective narrative essays, grouped into four thematic sections, to provide a humanistic, “on-the-ground” understanding of divided cities, conflict, and peacemaking. Incorporating both scholarly analyses based on empirical research and introspective essays, Bollens digs underneath grand narratives of conflict to illuminate the complexities and paradoxes of living amid nationalistic political strife and the challenges of planning and policymaking in divided societies. Richly illustrated, the book includes informative synopses about the cities that provide access for general readers while extensive connections to recent literature enhance the book’s research value to scholars.
Author(s): Scott A. Bollens
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2021
Language: English
Pages: 178
City: London
Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication Page
Contents
Dramatis Personae: Polarized Cities of This Book
Preface: Why I Am Here
Introduction: Soul Trekking
1 Polarized: Us/Them
Polarized
Introduction
Conflict
The Living Soul Within
Dead and Alive
Intractability
Long Memories in Tight Spaces
The Question Posed by Polarized Cities
Epic Cultures
Urbicide
Traverse
The City Has a Rationality That the State Cannot Understand
Us/Them
Introduction
To Unsee the Other (I)
13-Year-Old Boys
This Makes Our Conflict Look Small
Which One?
Bounding the Postwar City
Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina—Synopsis
The Longest 50 Meters in the World
Nicosia, Cyprus—Synopsis
Two Worlds Next to Each Other
Jerusalem, Israel/Palestine—Synopsis
Banality of Separateness
Belfast, Northern Ireland—Synopsis
Helicoptered
The River Is Near the City
Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina—Synopsis
Two Societies or One?
Barcelona, Spain—Synopsis
Semantic Hegemony
Green Lines
If the South Had Won the American Civil War
You Have to Decide Whose Side You’re On
Rape Gate
Johannesburg, South Africa—Synopsis
I Drew the Borders of Israel
Region Versus State
Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain—Synopsis
No Bridges Left
To Unsee the Other (II)
Juxtaposition
New Fault Line
Beirut, Lebanon—Synopsis
Kindergarten Rifles
Huddling Together in a Closed Room
How to Make It Easier to Stereotype the “Other”
Auto Insurance
The Occupation Next Door
Euskera
Sectarianism Without Conclusion
2 Emotions: Interior
Introduction
Where Once There Were Playgrounds
Trauma of the Holocaust
Comfort Zones
Double-Minority Syndrome
Oh, Jerusalem
Professional Racism
Eyes That Light Up
Pray Tell
Beauty and “No-Go”
George Floyd and Ariel Sharon
Bottom Up, Top Down
Neither Neutral nor Benign
Two Faces of Post-Apartheid Planning
Emotionally Costly Peace
Some Mornings
Prejudice Zone
Globalization With Mass Graves
I Am Only an Observer Now
Threat Simplifies
Neighborhood Dogs
I Leave Uneasy
Beware of Ruins
Defeated
A Deeper Type of Despair
Passing Along Hatred
Tiger’s Bay
Dark Presence
Conflict Ethnography
Lived Experience and Technical Expertise
Depleted Peace Seekers
Ripe Setting
Fear in a Soldier’s Eyes
Unsustainable Pain
Risking Romance
At Times, I Wonder
Speaking American Loudly
American Apartheid
The Bombs of Guernica
Brothers at War
Defending the Future
Criticizing Israel
I Wait
Who Could Have Devised a Strategy Such as This?
We Don’t Have a Choice
The Ideologue and the Pragmatist
I Am a Minority
Clowns Without Borders
Margins and Cracks
The Edge Between Two Worlds
Most Expensive Interview
Solution
A City of Slender People
Bulletproof Tires
What Has Gone Right Here?
In a Negotiator’s Drawer
Warrior of the Light
Losing
The Opposite of Possibility
Barb-Wired Buffer Zone
Sarajevo for Beginners
Puppets
In the Difficult Middle
Tunnel of Hope
Checkpoint #300
I Just Need Someone to Get Inside My Story
Underneath the Surface
No Standing Still
3 Place: Exterior
Introduction
Balaclavas
Irreverence
Dark Tourism
Large Yachts and Bombed Buildings
Paradoxical Separations
Closer to Heaven
Civility Amid Chaos
Off-Camera
Two Pasts
Noticeably Absent
Biking the Barrier
Lilies and Poppies
The Power of Urbanism (I)
Sharing Space
Insatiability
Autonomous Zones
Higher Ground
Tin City
Can Holiness Be Annexed?
Urban Porosity
Seeing Like a City
38 Miles
The Presence of Absence (I)
Trekking in Terrorist Territory
Mapmakers
Armani Suits
Is Neutrality After War Possible?
18 Years After “Peace”
Hard to Breathe
Troubling Implications
Church at the End of the Road
The Presence of Absence (II)
26 Years Later
Imprinting Democracy
Occupation on Display
Parking Space
Is This Man Ready for Peace?
Healing Streets
Watched Streets
City Soundtracks
How Do You Gain Control?
Basement Lunch
Academic Shield
Pots and Pans
Sugar in My Coffee?
4 Time: Past/Future
Introduction
Hope in Despair, Spirit Amid Gloom
Transitional Urbanism
Swimming Olympic Style After Years of Drowning
ETA and IRA
Blindness
History as Weapon
Aftereffects
The Two Mayors of Nicosia
A Witness to Political Violence
Ethnic Sclerosis
Bounding Cities, Restricting Peace
Journey Into Grace
Umuntu Ngumuntu Ngabantu
Above the Political Quagmire
Author’s Journal Notes on a Good Day
Offshoring
A Peace Not Envisioned
Stepping Back
Peace Agreements Are Not Enough
To Transform or to Challenge
Urbana Obscura
Peace Destabilizes
Can Nationalism Include?
Symptom and Root
Dividing for Peace?
Drivers of Violence
Disrupted
Drinker, Abstainer, Recoverer
Killing Field
Violent Nationalism
Chekhov and Shakespeare
War and Peace
Struggle Without End
Is Every Place Unique?
A Matter of Time
Thresholds
The Importance of Being Urban (I)
Surmounting Walls, Not Politics
Grassroots Bridge Building
The Power of Urbanism (II)
Social Engineering
What Does Peace Feel Like?
The Importance of Being Urban (II)
Moving Beyond the Neoliberal Fix
Spaces of Tolerance
Catalyzing the Larger Peace
No End to This Story
Empathy
Lifeboat
In Their Complacency, I Saw My Consent
Plane Ride Home
Peace
Postscript: Can It Happen in America? Is It Happening Here?
Index
