Lived Religion and Popular Culture in Early Twentieth Century Jerusalem: A Palestinian Christian Perspective from the Memoir of Tawfiq Canaan

This article reinterprets Jerusalem’s religious and cultural landscape in the early twentieth century and, specifically, how this was lived and experienced by the city’s Palestinian Christian population. By analysing the memoir and other writings of one of its prominent members, the Lutheran physician and ethnographer Tawfiq Canaan (1882-1964), the study reveals a vibrant and diverse cultural-religious milieu during the late-Ottoman and Mandate periods of Palestinian history. In contrast to the conventional portrayal of a strict, conservative city dominated by religious institutions, Canaan’s descriptions of popular medicine illuminate aspects of rich religious worlds of Palestinians that are deeply intertwined with Palestinian culture and were common to—and often shared between—other religious communities of the city. The article’s original contribution lies in its usage of alternative, marginalised historical accounts by Jerusalem’s own inhabitants, shedding light on aspects of the city’s multi-dimensional history.