2017/06/27 by Elisa Farinacci · 1 citation
Social Sciences · #Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies #Anthropological Studies and Insights #Middle East Politics and Society #Icon #Plea #Agency (philosophy) #Shot (pellet) #Politics #History #Law #Ancient history #Sociology #Political science
paper · pdf · doi:10.1515/jef-2017-0006
openalex publication_date 2017/06/27 · openalex created_date 2017/07/14 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
Abstract In this work I analyse the ethnographic case study of the icon of Our Lady of the Wall as establishing a unique ritual landscape among the cement slabs of the Israeli-Palestinian Wall separating Jerusalem from Bethlehem. Although the Wall has been widely described as a technology of occupation on one side and as a device to ensure security on the other, through Latour’s concept of assemblages I unearth its agency in developing a Christian shrine. Through a decade of weekly recitations of the Rosary along the Wall near Checkpoint 300, the Elizabethan nuns of the Caritas Baby Hospital have been invoking Mary’s help to dismantle the Wall. This weekly ritual represents both political dissent against the bordering action enacted by the Wall, as well as giving visibility to the plea of the Palestinian Christian right to live in this territory in the face of their status as an ethnoreligious minority.