Walking on the Jordan Trail: A cultural politics of Jordan

我的博士研究对政治地理学、文化地理学和中东研究做出了重大贡献，将传统上截然不同的文化和政治地理学的工作结合在一起。我的论文对比了关注国家控制的运动、边界和领土的政治地理研究与关注运动实践的文化地理研究，比如步行，以及与地方的日常和生活接触。通过关注生活经验和日常实践，这种子学科的配对创造了从概念和方法上研究中东的新方法。我的博士导师注意到我的“贡献融合了政治和文化地理学的主题关注的独创性”，以及“结合子学科传统”的新颖性。为了做到这一点，我的论文研究了约旦的一条长途步道，约旦步道。约旦步道贯穿约旦全境，是一种旅游产品，一种文化习俗，也是一种国家建设工具。我的研究提出了一些重要的问题，如文化遗产和旅游实践如何更好地与日常场所结合，以及如何捕捉运动等遗产的非物质方面。我认为，大多数关于中东的研究都集中在国家层面的分析上，或者只关注移民、冲突或难民。我的研究强调了探索日常文化实践的必要性，以便了解日常身份和与冲突地区（如约旦）的关系如何被这些更广泛的地缘政治问题所塑造。关于需要探索关于国家，身份边界和殖民实践的政治决策之间的相互作用的紧急问题，以及与运动和地方有关的文化实践，通过我的研究进行了探索。我的研究介入了一系列及时的辩论，围绕地缘政治事件对中东日常空间的影响（参见Fregonese, 2019； Joronen和Griffiths, 2019; Culcasi, 2016; Ramadan, 2013）。约旦步道为约旦人和游客提供了一个探索文化遗产项目等问题的重要场所。约旦的经济在很大程度上依赖于旅游业，因此对旅游相关项目的审查很重要（Buda, 2016）。旅游业是约旦最大的雇主和经济收入来源之一。然而，自叙利亚战争爆发以来，前往约旦的游客数量下降了40%（世界旅游和旅游理事会，2018年）。我的研究通过探索政治决策如何改变它们以及文化遗产实践如何用于在冲突时期创建有关身份和公民身份的某些想法，解决了旅游，文化遗产和冲突之间的这些关键关系。中东文化与政治的关系是我的论文对学术辩论的重要贡献。有机会将我的博士研究成果传播给约旦的团体和学术受众，将使我能够在两个重要方面发展我的学术生涯的下一个阶段：首先，将我的研究传播回我在博士期间工作过的社区，将使我能够保持这些关系，其次，将确保一个新的研究项目的基础。新项目将以我博士论文的工作为基础和发展，扩大其地理范围，并将新的重点放在土著和流离失所问题上。我的研究计划旨在为文学和政策做出三个关键贡献：1)融合文化和政治地理学以及中东研究；2)改变研究中东的地点和尺度；3)对国家层面的旅游和流离失所决策如何影响冲突地区公民的生活体验产生重要的政策影响。

My doctoral research makes a substantial contribution to political geography, cultural geography and Middle Eastern studies by bringing together cultural and political geographical work on place and movement, which have traditionally been disparate. My thesis contrasted political geographical research focused on state controlled movement, borders, and territory with cultural geographical research that engages with practices of movement, such as walking, and everyday and lived engagements with place. This pairing of sub-disciplines created new ways to study the Middle East conceptually and methodologically, by focusing on lived experiences and everyday practices. My PhD examiners noted the 'originality of contribution fusing thematic concerns from political and cultural geography' and the novelty of 'pairing sub-disciplinary traditions'. To do this, my thesis engaged with a long-distance walking trail in Jordan, the Jordan Trail. The Jordan Trail runs the length of Jordan and is a tourism product, a cultural practice, but also a nation-building tool. My research asks important questions about how cultural heritage and tourism practices can engage better with everyday sites and how intangible aspects of heritage such as movement can be captured. I argued that most studies of the Middle East focus on the state scale of analysis or else focus solely on migration, conflict or refugees. My research highlights the need to explore everyday cultural practices in order to understand how everyday identities and relationships with place in areas of conflict, such as Jordan, are being shaped by these broader geopolitical questions. Urgent questions regarding the need to explore the interactions between political decisions concerning the state, identity borders, and colonial practices, and cultural practices relating to movement and place were explored through my research.My research intervenes in a series of timely debates around the impacts of geopolitical events on everyday spaces in the Middle East (see Fregonese, 2019; Joronen and Griffiths, 2019; Culcasi, 2016; Ramadan, 2013). The Jordan Trail offers an important site to explore such questions as a cultural heritage project aimed at both Jordanians and tourists. Jordan's economy is largely dependent on tourism, as such the examination of projects related to tourism is important (Buda, 2016). Tourism is one of Jordan's largest employers and sources of economic income. However, since the outbreak of the Syrian War tourist numbers visiting Jordan have declined by 40% (World Travel and Tourism Council, 2018). My research addresses these key relationships between tourism, cultural heritage and conflict by exploring how political decisions alter them and how cultural heritage practices are used to create certain ideas about identity and citizenship within times of conflict. The relationship between culture and politics in the Middle East is a key contribution my thesis makes to academic debates. The opportunity to disseminate my PhD research findings to groups in Jordan as well as academic audiences will enable me to develop the next stage of my academic career in two important ways: firstly, the dissemination of my research back to the communities I worked with during my PhD will allow me to maintain these relationships, which secondly, will ensure the foundations for a new research project. The new project will build on and develop work from my PhD thesis, by expanding its geographical scope and moving to a new focus on indigeneity and displacement. My research plans aim towards making three key contributions to the literature and policy: 1) fusing together cultural and political geography and Middle Eastern studies; 2) altering the sites and scales through which the Middle East is studied; 3) generating important policy implications for how state level decisions around tourism and displacement impact the lived experiences of citizens in areas of conflict.