Living in a kaleidoscope

Known as the shady backyard of the city, the neighbourhood Neve Shaanan located in south Tel Aviv has long been defined by poverty, drugs and prostitution. In the early 1990s, both Jewish and non-Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe, South East Asia and Africa gradually started settling there and transformed the character of the area into a multi-ethnic kaleidoscope, a dynamic space in continuous transition. The author presents a first of its kind ethnography of the social construction on boundaries between different migrant groups within the urban context of the pedestrian mall Neve Shaanan street. Nowhere is its heterogeneity more noticeable than here, where innumerable ethnic shops, internet cafes, hair salons, as well as bars and restaurants are hosted. Detailed narratives of shop-owners, employees and street visitors reveal the complex nexus between social, political and economic forces reflected on street life in a shared environment.