THE “JORDANIAN” ROMAN COMPLEX: Reinventing Urban Landscape to Accommodate Globalization

The central urban landscape of Amman, including the archaeological sites of the Roman Theatre, Odeon and Forum, has played an essential cultural, political, social, and economic role in local identity and memory since the establishment of the Emirate of Transjordan in 1921. This research is an ethnographic study of this urban landscape. It combines local people's responses to recent governmental interventions to develop the downtown area around the Roman Complex. We document how the Roman Complex “grew” as a feature of a modern Jordanian landscape, not just a reminder of the Roman imperial past. The study investigates conflicting perspectives that have arisen between local community members and recent development projects. In these projects local people's memories, feelings, knowledge, and activities related to the Roman Complex are sacrificed in order to present an image of Amman that can be perceived globally.