Urbanities,
Vol. 3
·
No 2
·
November 2013
© 2013
Urbanities
157
they might gain from a tourist encounter.
However, griots’ musical performances
link the so called ‘Old’ and ‘New’ African
diasporas. In a different mode, Rena
Molho presents the unique and long history
of the Jewish diaspora in Salonica.
As indicated already, it is beyond the
limits of this review to present the rich
ethnographic information and theoretical
insights offered in this volume. It is not
easy reading considering the unequal
length of chapters and the lack of a
standard form structuring the presentations
to respond to the leading theme under
investigation. This is, however, a recurrent
deficiency in many academic conferences
and the volumes that are produced
afterwards. Nevertheless, the researchers
engaged in the ‘hot’ subject of present day
global migrations, be they defined as new
diasporas or transnational dispersions, will
find the volume of much interest and a
stimulant for further research.
Reference
Shokeid, Moshe. 1988.
Children of
Circumstances: Israeli Emigrants in New
York
. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Moshe Shokeid
Tel Aviv University
Tsypylma Darieva, Wolfgang Kaschuba,
Melanie Krebs
(eds.) (2011)
Urban
Spaces after Socialism: Ethnographies of
Public Places in Eurasian Cities
. Frankfurt
/ Main: Campus Verlag.
This edited collection of twelve case
studies offers an insight into selected
aspects of contemporary life in four
capitals and three ‘second cities’ of the
former federal republics of the Soviet
Union. The book stems from the results of
the workshop on ‘Urban Spaces, Caucasian
Places, Transformation in Capital Cities’
held in Tbilisi in 2009 and a subsequent
workshop held in Berlin in 2010. The aim
of the book, following the introductory text
by Tsypylma Darieva and Wolfgang
Kaschuba, is to deal with the following
questions: How are new urban identities in
Eurasia –including city symbols and place
brands– represented, managed and
appropriated by different social groups?
How do people transform and reinterpret
urban space into their own places beyond
the perspectives of grand narratives? (p.
12).
Darieva
and
Kaschuba’s
introductory text speaks predominantly
about post-socialism, transformation, the
legacy of urban socialism and the post-
Soviet city. The authors of the case
studies, however, have also highlighted
other historical intersections and legacies
beyond the Introduction’s theoretical
elaboration, such as the legacy of the
plurality of religions, the legacy of the
Russian Empire, the legacy of the pre-
Empire periods, and so on.
The book is divided into two parts.
The first part is titled ‘Contours and
Places’ and discusses the physical and
symbolic layout of the city. The second
part is named ‘Places and Voices’ and
focuses predominantly on the sociability,
behaviour and symbolic world of
individuals and specific urban groups.
Physical changes in selected cities
are the dominant theme of the first part of
the book. In this section, the authors
frequently search for modifications in the
