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White But Not Quite: Normalizing Colonial Conquests Through Spatial Mimicry
Author(s) -
Ram Mori
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
antipode
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.177
H-Index - 98
eISSN - 1467-8330
pISSN - 0066-4812
DOI - 10.1111/anti.12071
Subject(s) - mimicry , colonialism , deconstruction (building) , ambivalence , sociology , white (mutation) , space (punctuation) , aesthetics , politics , normalization (sociology) , anthropology , political science , law , social psychology , ecology , psychology , philosophy , linguistics , biochemistry , chemistry , gene , biology
The role of mimicry in the construction and deconstruction of social identities has enriched our understanding of power relations considerably. However, as a spatial practice, mimicry has received scant consideration. In what ways can space itself become an object of mimicry? What strategies and practices are involved in this process and with what political objectives? The current paper treats these questions by analyzing processes of mimetic spatial production aiming to transform the Israeli‐occupied territory of Mount Hermon into an “ordinary” western ski resort. Yet this concerted effort produces a variety of tensions and contradictions that ultimately undo the normalization of the colonial space, comprising a test case of the convoluted ways in which mimicry of space, not merely in space, generates various forms of slippage, excess and ambivalence.