Israel As Center Stage

by Hare, A. Paul

• ISBN13: 9780897896962
• ISBN10: 0897896963
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-12-01
• Publisher: Praeger Pub Text

Summary

After introducing the dramaturgical perspectives by drawing on insights from anthropology, sociology, and the theater, the contributors give examples of enactments for which the persons involved were quite conscious of the fact that they must first establish a stage, or action area, before they could perform. As in theater, the setting of the stage has implicit meanings and actions will then become explicit as the drama unfolds. In Part I of the book, the accounts of the early kibbutzniks who needed an action area for their collective agricultural settlements, the new settlers who wish to reclaim Judea and Samaria, and the African-Americans who discovered that Israel was at the intersection of Hebrew and African traditions, provide variations on this theme. Part II details varieties of enactments that have and possibly will take place in Israel, including an account of Ethiopian youths who experienced their crossing of the Sudan on their way to Israel to participate in the events of the Millennium. Other accounts of social dramas describe the "sulha," the traditional Bedouin method of the resolution of a blood feud between Bedouin tribes, and the religious pilgrimmages by Jews, Arabs, and Christians to holy sites where they sometimes reenact a past event.

Author Biography

A. PAUL HARE is Professor of Sociology (Emeritus) of the Department of Behavioral Sciences, Ben-Gurion University, Israel.GIDEON M. KRESSEL is Professor of Anthropology and Oriental Studies, Ben-Gurion University, Israel.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Social Interaction as Drama	1	(14)
A. Paul Hare
Herbert H. Blumberg
Gideon M. Kressel
Part I Setting the Stage or Entering It Intentionally
The Quest for Redemption: Reality and Fantasy in the Mission to Jerusalem	15	(16)
Eliezer Witztum
Moshe Kalian
Tower and Stockade: Whistling in the Dark and Heroic Tradition	31	(12)
Moshe Schwartz
Where Is ``Here''?: Scientific Practices and Appropriating Space in the Discourse of Israeli Social Movements	43	(30)
Michael Feige
Israel as Africa: The Hebrew Israelite Community	73	(16)
A. Paul Hare
Why Change Culture? A Trilemma Confronting Russian Intelligentsia in Israel	89	(16)
Narspy Zilberg
Part II Accepting the Meaning of the Setting
Slat (Synagogue) El-Gtar: ``More Than a Ritual Corner''	105	(10)
Malka Shabtay
Young Ethiopian Jews' Journey to Israel (1977-1985): Meaning and Coping	115	(24)
Gadi BenEzer
The Sulh: Mediating a Blood Feud	139	(14)
Gideon M. Kressel
Part III Imposing Roles on Others
Recognizing the Power of Words: The Dynamic of Recollection in Micro-social Worlds	153	(12)
Gideon M. Kressel
Let Palestine Return to Khaybar	165	(24)
Gideon M. Kressel
Reenacting the Granting of Islam's Custody of Jerusalem by the Seventh-Century Christian Establishment	189	(6)
Gideon M. Kressel
References	195	(12)
Author Index	207	(4)
Subject Index	211	(4)
About the Contributors	215