Nationalism and the Politics of Fear in Israel: Race and Identity on the Border with Lebanon Contributor(s): Thorleifsson, Cathrine (Author) |
|
ISBN: 1780767501 ISBN-13: 9781780767505 Publisher: I. B. Tauris & Company OUR PRICE: $158.40 Product Type: Hardcover Published: September 2015 |
Additional Information |
BISAC Categories: - History | Middle East - Israel & Palestine - History | Jewish - General - Social Science | Anthropology - Cultural & Social |
Dewey: 305.892 |
Physical Information: 0.9" H x 5.5" W x 8.6" (0.95 lbs) 232 pages |
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
Publisher Description: Kiryat Shmona, located near the Israeli-Lebanese border, often makes the news whenever there is an outbreak of violence between the two countries. In Israel's northernmost city, the residents are mostly Mizrahim, that is, Jews descending from Arab and Muslim lands. Cathrine Thorleifsson uses the dynamics at play along this border to develop wider conclusions about the nature of nationalism, identity, ethnicity and xenophobia in Israel, and the ways in which these shift over time and are manipulated in different ways for various ends. She explores the idea of being on the 'periphery' of nationhood: examining the identity-forming and negotiating processes of these Mizrahim who do not neatly dove-tail with the predominantly Ashkenazi concept of what it means to be 'Israeli'. Through in-depth ethnographic observation and analysis, Thorleifsson highlights the daily negotiation of Moroccan and Persian Jewish families who define themselves in opposition to Ashkenazi Jews from Russia and Central and Eastern Europe and the Druze, Christian and Muslim Arab populations which surround them. But this is not just an examination of differences and stereotypes which are continually perpetuated. |