Transcript Not Just a Place on the Map”: The Implications of Israel

“Not Just a Place on the Map”:
The Implications of Israel for
American Jewish Communities
An ethnography by
Candace Anthony
Taglit-Birthright
Zionism: an international political movement that originally
supported the reestablishment of a homeland for the Jewish
People in their biblical homeland. It continues primarily as support
for the modern State of Israel (Wikipedia 2008).
Birthright Unplugged
Settlements
Separation
Barrier
By-pass roads
Check points
Where is Israel?
“Israel is a State
that’s borders
stretch from the
Mediterranean to
the edge of the
border of the West
Bank, and it is
currently occupying
all the land up to
the Jordan River,
and the Gaza strip.
The Golan Heights,
I don’t know if it’s
Israel or if it’s not
Israel.” -Ezekiel
Contested borders
Israel lacks
internationally
recognized borders
Potential Borderlands:
international borders
natural borders
Green Line
armistice line
recognized borders
defendable borders
security barrier
historic border
biblical frontiers
(Kumaraswamy 2006:xx)
1947-1949
1967
Currently
Representations
of occupation
Questions
• What are the implications of a “birthright”?
• Why were Palestinian narratives seemingly absent
from the official story?
• What does both the land and the state of Israel mean
to American Jews?
• How do American Jews understand the
Israel/Palestine Conflict?
• How do understandings of
Israel relate to
understandings
of the Conflict?
Research Methods
• Travels and Field Notes in Israel and Palestine
• Attended Local Synagogues and Jewish Events
• Extended Interviews (13)
– 4 College students
– 2 Rabbis
– 7 Other people
• Miscellaneous Conversations
• Miscellaneous Advertisements
Space and Place, Power and Control
• Marx: “The ruling ideas are nothing more than the ideal
expression of the dominant material relationships grasped
as ideas” (In Hebdige 2002:15).
• Gramsci: hegemony- the naturalization of ruling ideas
• Douglass: Purity, Power and Bodies- “the body is a model
which can stand for any bounded system” (Douglas
1979:115).
• Benjamin: Porosity
• Said: Orientalism: “us” and “others”
Blurring lines between Israel and Judaism:
Locating Identity and Constructing a Homeland
“Zion is that promised kingdom that
some guy is going to come establish,
that may or may not be
metaphorical[…]. Zion is wherever you
want to make it. Israel is a State.”
-Ezekiel
• Mainstream Jewish
Education frames Israel
as the essence or
embodiment of Judaism
and the realization of Zion
Israel as the “body” of Jewish people
• Israel becomes a place that represents Jewish
Ideals.
• The national subject of the State of Israel
encompasses all Jews Internationally.
“This is the homeland, this is the heart
of the Jewish people. This is, you know,
what we have. All we have, our, we
have our community, and we have
Israel.” -Pala
Policing boundaries and Ideas
• Physical: High-tech
Militarization
• Ideas: Producing
national subjects on an
International scale
“This particular man
writes to me and says
‘You are someone to
whom many of us look
up to. You are a mentor to this area. You represent
Judaism. I would expect from you from now on,’ he
says, ‘never to disparage any Jewish organization,
never to critique or criticize any Jewish organization’
and that stands for Israel also.” -Oskar
hegemony
• Once Israel is the metaphorical “body”
separating it and Israel is difficult.
Critiques of the State of Israel are
interperated as critiques of the Jewish
People and thus Anti-Semetic.
“If not being anti-Semitic
means that I have to
give up all of my critical
factors, then, I think the
whole thing is just a
mallet to beat people
down with. I, I maintain
the right to be critical,
and not necessarily
judgmentally.” -Roland
strength in the Diaspora
“Kierkegaard, the great
philosopher once said ‘if
everybody becomes a
Christian, Christianity
ceases to exist.’ And that’s
true. You know, you need
contrast.”-Oskar
“In the Jewish Torah we’re told that the
land of Israel is an inheritance of the
Jewish people. Um, so, so, that’s that
the principle that we go by. The only
thing is though, um, and we have to
stand up for the Land as being ours,
the only thing is, if this comes at a
cost, of, of life, life always takes
precedence.” -Yaacob.
Conclusions
• The existence of the State of Israel as we know it, depends on high-tech
systems of control, and monitoring.
• The modern State of Israel is being framed as the body of the Jewish
people.
• All Jews are all framed as “national subjects” of the State of Israel
• The body, symbolic of the State’s politics, and encompassing International
Jewry, requires that information be patrolled to ensure a hegemonic
discourse, and ultimately continuity of the status quo.
• It becomes even more difficult for people to on a personal and public level
to criticize the politics.
• People who do not agree with the hegemonic discourse and the politics of
the State, reconcile their identity by not envisioning the Jewish people as
bound by a national body, by separating “the State of Israel” from “biblical
Zion,” and by pointing to other strengths.
Other Parts of this Research
• The implications of the body of Israel being a “mother”
• Israel as a “Light Unto the Nations”
• Paternalism, Orientalism and the construction of Others
Potential Future Research
•Possible difference
in perceptions
between men and
women
•A closer look at the
role of media
•Pro-Israel NonJewish American
perspectives
•Israeli’s perceptions
of American Jews
Works Cited in this Presentation
•
•
•
•
•
•
Benjamin, Walter
1972 Naples. In Reflections. Pp. 163-173. New York: Schocken.
Douglas, Mary
1979[1966] Purity and Danger: An Analysis of the Concepts of
Pollution and Taboo. London: Routledge.
Hebdige, Dick
2002 Subculture: The Meaning of Style. New York: Routledge
Jhally, Sut, Dir.
2002 Edward Said: On Orientalism. 40min. Media Education Foundation.
Kumaraswamy, P. R.
2004 Historical Dictionary of the Arab-Israeli Conflict. Lanham, MD:
Scarecrow Press, Inc.
Wikipedia
2008 Zionism. Accessed 28 April 2008
Many thanks to everyone who had helped me
through this project.
Questions?