Abstract
The Samaritans form a community of about 810 people split between Mount Gerizim (West Bank) and Holon (Israel). Through tourism of holy sites and cultural heritage promotion, this article examines different ways in which religion can be used as a cultural resource. How do these phenomena contribute to the emergence of a transnationalization of religion in the globalized context?
Highlights
The Samaritans form a community of about 810 people split between Mount Gerizim (West Bank) and Holon (Israel)
Following the example of the second Israeli president and specialist in Samaritanism, Yitzhak Ben-Zvi,5 the Zionist leaders were projecting on the Samaritan community the re-actualization of the myth of the “ten lost tribes”6 and were aiming to incorporate them into national edification
“authentic” that goes alongside the elaboration and revitalization of cultural elements described as traditional. Will these new religious affiliations be at the origin of new modes of religiosity? What will be collectively decided regarding the modes of integration of individuals who wish to join Samaritanism?. Do they herald a Samaritanism detached from any ethnicity? Will the Israeli-Palestinian Samaritans grant them a place in the Holy Land or will they negotiate with these new believers to maintain a geographical and symbolic border between the ethnic community on the one hand and the transnational growth on the other? These new parameters challenge the place of the internet and social networks in the modes of confessional affiliation, and in the setup of virtual worship practices of the holy site at a distance
Summary
Tourism is not a new phenomenon within the community since their Passover was part of the itinerary of European travelers to the Holy Land since the 19th century. 19th century was marked by a growing interest among European scholars in the Samaritans and the production of travel stories, photographs, and scientific studies concerning them These developments led to a better understanding of Samaritan customs and history. This process has led to anthropological and genetic studies that resulted in the production of a Samaritan identity particularism17 This evolution puts the formation of the field of anthropology into perspective in an era that was sensitive to the urgency of the collection of materials from traditional societies that were thought to be on the verge of extinction (Fabre 2010). From the second half of the 19th century, the extreme poverty in which the Samaritans found themselves pushed the priests to undertake an intensive trade of sacred objects (manuscripts , tallitôt, amulets, and talismans) for the benefit of Western collectors and tourists, leaving the community with a heritage in exile. Samaritans transcribed almost all of their holy writings, and when there were almost none left, they recreated new ones. the Samaritans—the priests in particular—carried out at that time a work of re-reading and transcription, but they rebuilt a cultural heritage, from which they were almost entirely deprived afterwards
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