Norig Neveu

 

This documentary looks at the heritage elements in the town of Salt. Located north of Amman in the Balqa governorate, the city has a population of 71,100. The town developed at the end of the Ottoman period, when the Ottoman administration resettled there. The arrival of this administration promoted local agriculture, with new merchants coming from Damascus and Palestine. They built expensive houses which are even today the town's architectural heritage (Rogan, 1999). These houses typify Ottoman architecture, with openings cut into the yellow limestone in the region. Salt became an important regional market, building up a special relationship with the city of Nablus. When the Emirate of Transjordan was being created, Salt was a candidate to be the capital, although in the end Amman was chosen. That in turn hastened Salt's loss of economic and political importance.

 

The documentary is structured around interviews with elderly people talking about the history of the town and its region. Inherited from Europe, this approach of looking at traditions and older ways of doing things was in vogue in the 1960's. At this time, the young independent state was desperate for symbols legitimizing its existence, so became very interested in local history and encouraged the creation of private collections of artefacts (Maffi, 2004).

 

Several aspects of the local economy and culture are highlighted here. The education system is presented as directly descended from the first Ottoman schools dating from the late 19^th century. Religious education in this town, where a significant portion of the population is Christian, was paid for by the different religious communities. The town's economic activities are then described through the eyes of traders and blacksmiths, typical of the town's commercial importance at regional level right up to the 1930's. Despite the importance of trade in the local economy, Salt is also known for its agriculture, especially for its olives. The Ottoman reforms helped develop this activity. The documentary ends with a sequence on how women live here, showing ancient and traditional clothes, especially the Madraga, a sleeveless dress printed with coloured patterns. This sequence highlights the importance of women as guarantors of heritage and tradition (Maffi, 2004).

 

By showing some of the traditions, this documentary focuses on the town's cultural heritage, looking at tools, crafts and typical architectural heritage. It uses the official definition of heritage – the 1923 law of antiquities categorises all sites and objects post-1700 as the country's heritage. This date limit separates turath – remains and objects dependent on heritage – from tarikh – those which are older, and part of history. Although this definition is often contradicted in practice, we can see the Ottoman legacy is considered and presented as being part of the local heritage.

 

 

Bibliography:

Raoud Sa’d Abujaber, Pioneers over Jordan: the frontier of settlement in Transjordan, 1850-1914, Londres, I.B. Tauris, 1989.

Irene Maffi, Pratique du patrimoine et politique de la mémoire en Jordanie. Entre histoire dynastique et récits communautaires, Lausanne, Payot, 2004.

Eugene Rogan, Frontiers of the State in the Late Ottoman Empire, Cambridge, Cambridge Middle East Studies, 1999.