Covering a period from the late eighteenth century to today, this volume explores the phenomenon of urban violence in order to unveil general developments and historical specificities in a variety of Middle Eastern contexts. By situating incidents in particular processes and conflicts, the case studies seek to counter notions of a violent Middle East in order to foster a new understanding of violence beyond that of a meaningless and destructive social and political act. Contributions explore processes sparked by the transition from empires Ottoman and Qajar, but also European to the formation of nation states, and the resulting changes in cityscapes throughout the region.

Nora Lafiis researcher at Zentrum Moderner Orient and is a historian of the Ottoman Empire with a focus on Urban Studies. She is coeditor ofThe City in the Ottoman Empire: Migration and the Making of Urban Modernity (Routledge, 2010).

List of Illustrations Acknowledgments

Introduction: Urban Violence in the Middle East: Changing Cityscapes in the Transition from Empire to Nation StateClaudia Ghrawi, Fatemeh Masjedi, Nelida Fuccaro, Ulrike Freitag

Part I: Managing and Employing Violence

Chapter 1. Mapping and Scaling Urban Violence: The 1800 Insurrection in CairoNora Lafi

Chapter 2. A Capital Challenge: Managing Violence and Disorders in Late Ottoman IstanbulNoémi Lévy-Aksu

Chapter 3. Gendered Obscenity: Womens Tongues, Mens Phalluses and the States Fist in the Making of Urban Norm in Interwar EgyptHanan Hammad

Part II: Symbolic Politics of Violence

Chapter 4. Urban Violence, the Muharram Processions and the Transformation of Iranian Urban Society: The Case of DezfulReza Masoudi Nejad

Chapter 5. Symbolic Politics and Urban Violence in Late Ottoman JeddahUlrike Freitag

Part III: Communal Violence and its Discontents

Chapter 6. The 1850 Uprising in Aleppo: Reconsidering the Explanatory Power of Sectarian ArgumentationsFeras Krimsti

Chapter 7. The City as a Stage for a Violent Spectacle: The Massacres of Armenians in Istanbul in 1895-96Florian Riedler

Chapter 8. Transforming the Holy City: From Communal Clashes to Urban Violence, the Nebi Musa Riots in 1920 Roberto Mazza

Part IV: Oil Cities: Spatiality and Violence

Chapter 9. On Lines and Fences: Labour, Community and Violence in an Oil CityRasmus Christian Elling

Chapter 10. Reading Oil as Urban Violence: Kirkuk and its Oil Conurbation, 1927-1958Nelida Fuccaro

Chapter 11. Structural and Physical Violence in Saudi Arabian Oil Towns, 1953-1956Claudia Ghrawi

Afterword: Urban Injustice, Urban Violence and the Revolution: Reflections on CairoKhaled Adham

Notes on Contributors Bibliography