Full Description
Toward an Anthropology of Nation Building and Unbuilding in Israel presents twenty-two original essays offering a critical survey of the anthropology of Israel inspired by Alex Weingrod, emeritus professor and pioneering scholar of Israeli anthropology. In the late 1950s Weingrod's groundbreaking ethnographic research of Israel's underpopulated south complicated the dominant social science discourse and government policy of the day by focusing on the ironies inherent in the project of Israeli nation building and on the process of migration prompted by social change.
Drawing from Weingrod's perspective, this collection considers the gaps, ruptures, and juxtapositions in Israeli society and the cultural categories undergirding and subverting these divisions. Organized into four parts, the volume examines our understanding of Israel as a place of difference, the disruptions and integrations of diaspora, the various permutations of Judaism, and the role of symbol in the national landscape and in Middle Eastern studies considered from a comparative perspective. These essays illuminate the key issues pervading, motivating, and frustrating Israel's complex ethnoscape.
Contents
IntroductionFran Markowitz, Stephen Sharot, and Moshe ShokeidPart 1. Coexistence and Conflict1. Living Together Separately: Arab-Palestinian Places through Jewish-Israeli EyesEfrat Ben-Ze'ev2. Landscapes of Despair, Islands of Hope: Social Working in the Unrecognized Arab-Bedouin Villages in the NegevHagit Peres3. Performing the People's Army: The Israeli Military Manages Symbolic and Moral BoundariesEdna Lomsky-Feder and Eyal Ben-Ari4. Another Item in the News: Normalcy and Distress at Sapir CollegeDafna Shir-Vertesh5. From the Protest to Testimony and Confession: The Changing Politics of Peace Organizations in IsraelSara HelmanPart 2. Migration, Ethnicity, and Identities6. From Engaged Mediator to Freelance Consultant: Israeli Social Scientists in the Service of Immigrant AbsorptionMoshe Shokeid7. A Different Mizrahi Story: How the Iraqis Became IsraelisEsther Meir-Glitzenstein8. Living Separately, Loving Tragically: Cross-Ethnic Romance in Israeli FilmsStephen Sharot9. Universalism and Particularism Revisited: Immigrant Physicians from the Former Soviet Union in IsraelJudith T. Shuval10. Israelis of Ethiopian Origin: New Identity Constructs and Research ModelsLisa Anteby-YeminiPart 3. Religion and Rituals11. Toward an Ethnography of a Mediterranean People: The Complex Culture of Southern Tunisian Jewry in the Early Twentieth CenturyShlomo Deshen12. "With Us More Than Ever Before": Making the Absent Rebbe Present in Messianic HabadYoram Bilu13. How Do We Know When a Society Is Changing? Reflections on Liberal Judaism in IsraelHarvey E. Goldberg14. More Dry Bones: The Significance of Changes in Mortuary Ritual in Contemporary IsraelHenry Abramovitch15. "Where It All Began": Archaeology, Nationalism, and Fundamentalism in SilwanMichael Feige16. Vehicles of Values: Souvenirs and the Moralities of Exchange in Christian Holy Land PilgrimageJackie FeldmanPart 4. Comparative Perspectives17. Reading and Redacting National Landscapes: Tales of Two Buildings from Israel and BosniaFran Markowitz18. "I Love a Parade": Ethnic Identity in the United States and IsraelAbraham Rosman and Paula G. Rubel19. Middle East Studies in Israel, Europe, and the United States: Trends and ProspectsDale F. EickelmanAfterwordAlex WeingrodContributors
