Manoeuvring Restrictions and Social Status in the Old City Market of Al Khalil (Hebron)

Master's thesis submitted at the Department of Social Anthropology, spring 2024.

By: Rosalind Dyveke Dale
Supervisor: Professor Ståle Knudsen

This thesis investigates how it is to manoeuvre social and economic life in the tourism market in the Old City of Al Khalil, Palestine. The theme will be discussed in light of anthropology of security, Bourdieu’s theory on capital and the concept of indebtedness. It begins with exploring difficulties Palestinian business owners in this area face, because of movement restrictions. Movement restrictions as a result of the Israeli settlement are put in place for Palestinians in this area which have created limitations in business opportunities and influenced the social life in the Old City. In the next chapter, I have discuss kinship and social life as capital that influence the local economy of Palestinian shop keepers. In this part I have discussed the kinship structure locally and uses Bourdieu theory on capital to explain how social and economic life is intertwined. From this discussion I argue that education, kinship obligation, nasab, honor and old wealth as capital, influence economic opportunities. After looking at how movement and social life influence the economy, I will in the last chapter present local shop keepers and discuss limitation and opportunities local shop keepers face in light of debt exchange. The main argument is that movement, Israeli occupation and social life need to be included when discussing the economy in Al Khalil, as they create limitations and opportunities for local business owners that a focus on economic capital alone cannot fully explain. While movement restrictions create limitations, social life can function as either a limitation or an advantage for local shop keepers in the Old City of Al Khalil.