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Paper short abstract:

The neighborhoods of would-be rural immigrants to Israel, stranded for years in cities due to bureaucratic issues, become a discourse on boundaries and temporariness. This is an anthropological view of the “new urban” through the dialogue between transient and permanent residents, village and town.

Paper long abstract:

Gondar and Addis Ababa have been gathering places for immigrants to Israel since 1991. These are rural people who found themselves stuck in cities while waiting to move on become part of the "new urban." Today, there are people who have been waiting for 18 years, and they have changed the fabric of urban neighborhoods, which have become temporary homes for rural immigrants-to-be. While not physically separated, these neighborhoods are the locus of an invisible discourse on boundaries and temporariness. Using an anthropological perspective, my lecture will focus on the creation of transit stations in cities, the dialogue between the transient would-be immigrants and the local population, and the ensuing economic, religious, and interpersonal issues.

I will focus on the extended waiting and explore the interaction that is established over the many years between the waiting people and the locals. I will also describe how the waiting affects the daily life of the locals, and the influence of overseas organizations and people that had immigrated to Israel and come back to visit in Gondar. The lecture is based on nine years of fieldwork in Ethiopia and Israel.