Ethnic and National Identities in Jewish and Israeli Minority Literature

Hadas Binyamini, Oberlin College

Location

Science Center, A255

Document Type

Presentation

Start Date

4-25-2014 2:45 PM

End Date

4-25-2014 3:45 PM

Abstract

My research examines the construction of ethnic-national identities through cultural work that subverts national-historical narratives. German and Israeli authors both rejected a dichotomy between Germaneness and Jewishness, and between Jewishness and Arabness, respectively. Here I explore the works of German-Jewish artists on Jewishness, and Mizrahi- and Palestinian-Israeli artists on Israeliness. The artists’ explorations of fragmented identities occurred in distinct historical contexts, but the similarities between the German-Jewish pre-WWII experience, and the Mizrahi- and Palestinian-Israeli contemporary experience, raise political and ethical questions about Jewishness, Israeliness, and nationhood.

Notes

Session II, Panel 9 - Can You See the Real Me? Analyses of Aesthetics and Representation
Moderator: A.G. Miller, Associate Professor of Religion

Major

History

Advisor(s)

Zeinab Abul-Magd, History

Project Mentor(s)

Shulamit Magnus, History

April 2014

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Apr 25th, 2:45 PM Apr 25th, 3:45 PM

Ethnic and National Identities in Jewish and Israeli Minority Literature

Science Center, A255

My research examines the construction of ethnic-national identities through cultural work that subverts national-historical narratives. German and Israeli authors both rejected a dichotomy between Germaneness and Jewishness, and between Jewishness and Arabness, respectively. Here I explore the works of German-Jewish artists on Jewishness, and Mizrahi- and Palestinian-Israeli artists on Israeliness. The artists’ explorations of fragmented identities occurred in distinct historical contexts, but the similarities between the German-Jewish pre-WWII experience, and the Mizrahi- and Palestinian-Israeli contemporary experience, raise political and ethical questions about Jewishness, Israeliness, and nationhood.