Author: Don Handelman
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000183688
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 288
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Book Description
National festivals. Military parades. Patriotic memorials. Such public events and tributes naturally bring to mind the idea of nationalism. But what is the cultural logic behind them? How does a country such as Israel facilitate state-related public events as enactments of nationalism? To answer these questions, renowned anthropologist Don Handelman unpacks the meaning of national ritual and symbol in Israel today. He argues that public events mirror social order, a mirror that reflects to its participants and audiences the message that the designers of such events wish to communicate. Handelman considers the meaning of Holocaust and military memorialism, and he investigates the role of holiday celebrations, especially how they affect young children first learning about their country. Analyzing state ceremonies such as Holocaust Remembrance Day for the war dead, and Independence Day, he notes the absence of minorities and examines their significance in the promotion of a national identity. He also looks at how Israel exports powerful symbols of statehood. Throughout, Handelman develops his theory of bureaucratic logic as the driving force behind expressions of nationalism in the modern state. He argues that bureaucratic logic has a much wider cachet than simply functioning as a way of thinking only about bureaucratic institutions. The logic is crucial to how these institutions function, but more so, it is a dominant force in forming modern state social order. Bureaucratic logic is used incessantly to invent and to modify all kinds of systems of classification that often have profound consequences for individuals and for groups, and that are ritualized powerfully through a host of state-related public events.
Author: Uri Ram
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136919945
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 184
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Book Description
The question of nationalism centres around the political, social, and cultural ways by which the concept and practice of a nation is constructed, and what it means to its various bearers. This book examines the issue of Jewish-Israeli nationalism, combining a sociological study of national culture with a detailed analysis of Israeli national discourse. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, the author explores the categories of thought that constitute the Jewish-Israeli "nation" as an historical entity, as a social reality and as a communal identity. Unravelling the ways in which Israeli nationhood, society and identity had been assumed as immutable, monolithic and closely bound objects by Zionist ideology and scholarship, he then explores how in modern times such approaches have become subject to an array of critical discourses, both in the academic disciplines of history, sociology and cultural studies, and also in the wider sphere of Israeli identity discourse. This unique study of the issue of Jewish-Israeli nationalism will be of great interest to students and scholars of Israeli Studies, Middle East Studies and Jewish History, as well as those working in the fields of Sociology, Political Science, History and Cultural Studies with an interest in nationalism, citizenship, social theory and historiography.
Author: Simon Rabinovitch
Publisher: UPNE
ISBN: 1611683629
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 296
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Book Description
An anthology of Jewish diaspora nationalist thought across the ideological spectrum
Author: Joseph Agassi
Publisher: Gefen Publishing House Ltd
ISBN: 9789652291905
Category : Israel and the diaspora
Languages : en
Pages : 344
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Book Description
This book suggests a Western-style, Liberal, Democratic-Nationalism for the State of Israel.
Author: Amal Jamal
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 113682412X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 337
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Book Description
National minorities and their behaviour have become a central topic in comparative politics in the last few decades. Using the relationship between the state of Israel and the Arab national minority as a case study, this book provides a thorough examination of minority nationalism and state-minority relations in Israel. Placing the case of the Arab national minority in Israel within a comparative framework, the author analyses major debates taking place in the field of collective action, social movements, civil society and indigenous rights. He demonstrates the impact of the state regime on the political behaviours of the minorities, and sheds light on the similarities and differences between various types of minority nationalisms and the nature of the relationship such minorities could have with their states. Drawing empirical and theoretical conclusions that contribute to studies of Israeli politics, political minorities, indigenous populations and conflict issues, this book will be a valuable reference for students and those in policy working on issues around Israeli politics, Palestinian politics and the broader Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Author: Martin Sicker
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 042972263X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 257
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Book Description
This book provides unique insights into the profound religious and cultural issues underlying the increasingly ideological divisions within Israeli society over the questions of territorial concessions and the future character of the state. It explores the significant distinctions between modern Zionism, a primarily secular nationalist movement modeled after the European movements of the nineteenth century, and the much older traditional Jewish nationalism, which is deeply rooted in ancient religion and culture. Dr. Sicker offers a concise overview of the 3,000-year intellectual history of Jewish nationalism, within which modern secular Zionism represents a relatively brief—although immensely important—interlude that may be entering its final stage as other more traditional religious nationalist concepts seek to take its place as the national ideology of the State of Israel. An analysis of how Jewish religious nationalism has shaped the history of the Jews, this book examines the national and territorial dimensions of classical Judaism, explains the survival of the nationalist idea despite the repeated loss of independence and the exile of the majority of the people from their homeland, and demonstrates how the nineteenth-century religious reform movement sought to counter both the growth of Zionism and the resurgence of traditional Jewish nationalism. The book concludes with a discussion of the new ideological synthesis of Judaism, nationalism, and the Land of Israel and its implications for the future of the Jewish state.
Author: Zeev Sternhell
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 140082236X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 464
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Book Description
The well-known historian and political scientist Zeev Sternhell here advances a radically new interpretation of the founding of modern Israel. The founders claimed that they intended to create both a landed state for the Jewish people and a socialist society. However, according to Sternhell, socialism served the leaders of the influential labor movement more as a rhetorical resource for the legitimation of the national project of establishing a Jewish state than as a blueprint for a just society. In this thought-provoking book, Sternhell demonstrates how socialist principles were consistently subverted in practice by the nationalist goals to which socialist Zionism was committed. Sternhell explains how the avowedly socialist leaders of the dominant labor party, Mapai, especially David Ben Gurion and Berl Katznelson, never really believed in the prospects of realizing the "dream" of a new society, even though many of their working-class supporters were self-identified socialists. The founders of the state understood, from the very beginning, that not only socialism but also other universalistic ideologies like liberalism, were incompatible with cultural, historical, and territorial nationalism. Because nationalism took precedence over universal values, argues Sternhell, Israel has not evolved a constitution or a Bill of Rights, has not moved to separate state and religion, has failed to develop a liberal concept of citizenship, and, until the Oslo accords of 1993, did not recognize the rights of the Palestinians to independence. This is a controversial and timely book, which not only provides useful historical background to Israel's ongoing struggle to mobilize its citizenry to support a shared vision of nationhood, but also raises a question of general significance: is a national movement whose aim is a political and cultural revolution capable of coexisting with the universal values of secularism, individualism, and social justice? This bold critical reevaluation will unsettle long-standing myths as it contributes to a fresh new historiography of Zionism and Israel. At the same time, while it examines the past, The Founding Myths of Israel reflects profoundly on the future of the Jewish State.
Author: Simon Rabinovitch
Publisher: Hebrew Union College Press
ISBN: 0878201637
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 428
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Book Description
Defining Israel: The Jewish State, Democracy, and the Law is the first book in any language devoted to the controversial passage of Israel's nation-state law. Israel has no constitution, and though it calls itself the Jewish state there is no agreement among Israelis on how that fact should be reflected in the government's laws or by its courts. Since the 1990s a number of civil society groups and legislators have drafted constitutions and proposed Basic Laws with constitutional standing that would clarify what it means for Israel to be a "Jewish and democratic state." Are these bills liberal or chauvinist? Are they a defense of the Knesset or an attack on the independence of the courts? Is their intention democratic or anti-democratic? The fight over the nation-state law-whether to have one and what should be in it-toppled the 19th Knesset's governing coalition and, even after its passage on July 29, 2018, remains a point of contention among Israel's lawmakers and increasingly the Israeli public. Defining Israel brings together influential scholars, journalists, and politicians, observers and participants, opponents and proponents, Jews and Arabs, all debating the merits and meaning of Israel's nation-state law. Together with translations of each draft law, the final law, and other key documents, the essays and sources in Defining Israel are essential to understand the ongoing debate over what it means for Israel to be a Jewish and democratic state.
Author: Joshua M. Karlip
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674074947
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 399
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Book Description
The Tragedy of a Generation is the story of a failed ideal: an autonomous Jewish nation in Europe. It traces the origins of two influential strains of Jewish thought—Yiddishism and Diaspora Nationalism—and documents the waning hopes and painful reassessments of their leading representatives against the rising tide of Nazism and the Holocaust.
Author: Boas Evron
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 9780253319630
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 294
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Book Description
". . . an excellent book . . . provides valuable insights into a broad range of cutting-edge topics in the social sciences such as ethnic and identity politics, nation building, transnationalism and diasporas." —Choice "This book will take its place as a classic in the field . . ." —Journal of Church and State " . . . a lucid formulation of post-Zionist ideology for the generation of the 1980s and 1990s." —International Journal of Middle East Studies "It is . . . a remarkable experience to read Evron's thoughtful book. He finds much to criticize in the conventional reading of Jewish history and argues that Israel should be thought of not as a state for the Jewish people but as a territorial state much like others, with full rights for all its inhabitants." —Foreign Affairs " . . . an extremely erudite, brilliant and powerful book with a novel approach: a sober secular conception of Judaism." —Maariv "A provocative post-Zionist critique of the fundamental concepts of Jewish peoplehood, Zionism, and Israeli nationalism." —Choice "This compelling book conveys the reader straight to the frontline of the battle raging in Israel over the proper boundaries of the national identity. Evron's radical post-Zionist critique of Israel's conceptual foundations calls in question the core link between Israel and Judaism and between Israel and the Jewish diaspora. His penetrating analysis challenges the muddled ideological bearings of Israel's public self-images and points the way toward what may be a more realistic adaptation to its Middle Eastern environment." —Noah Lucas, Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies "Boas Evron is one of the most important and innovative contemporary Jewish-Israeli thinkers and writers. . . . For the English-speaking reader, Evron's book is a unique opportunity to understand the new secular Israeli nationalism, written by one of its most critical yet optimistic representatives." —Baruch Kimmerling, The Hebrew University Boas Evron concludes that Israel should become a territorial state that would accommodate its sizeable non-Jewish minority in a truly democratic way.
