Jerusalem Population Statistics as a Tool for Control and Colonial Fragmentation

This study analyses population statistics in the colonized part of Jerusalem in 1967, whether the analysis conducted by the bureaucratic settlement apparatus in 1967 or the population statistics collected by the Central Palestinian Statistics Agency in 1997, 2007 and 2017. It is based on Foucault's suggestion that population statistics are a tool of control. It tries to answer a complex central question on how population statistics contribute to colonial divisions (following Benedict Anderson) and representation of the governing power. This question produces several others, most importantly the connection of population statistics and demographic conflict in Jerusalem. The study argues that population statistics in Jerusalem are an important tool for extending the control of the settler authority, to fragment and consolidate colonial divisions, particularly within the demographic conflict in Jerusalem.

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This study analyses population statistics in the colonized part of Jerusalem in 1967, whether the analysis conducted by the bureaucratic settlement apparatus in 1967 or the population statistics collected by the Central Palestinian Statistics Agency in 1997, 2007 and 2017. It is based on Foucault's suggestion that population statistics are a tool of control. It tries to answer a complex central question on how population statistics contribute to colonial divisions (following Benedict Anderson) and representation of the governing power. This question produces several others, most importantly the connection of population statistics and demographic conflict in Jerusalem. The study argues that population statistics in Jerusalem are an important tool for extending the control of the settler authority, to fragment and consolidate colonial divisions, particularly within the demographic conflict in Jerusalem.

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