The Military and Militarism in Israeli Society

Edited by Edna Lomsky-Feder & Eyal Ben-Ari

Subjects: Sociology, Israel Studies, Cultural Studies, History, Middle East Studies
Series: SUNY series in Israeli Studies
Paperback : 9780791443521, 329 pages, April 2000
Hardcover : 9780791443514, 329 pages, May 2000

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Table of contents

1. Introduction: Cultural Constructions of War and the Military in Israel
Eyal Ben-Ari and Edna Lomsky-Feder

Part I. Setting the Context

2. Wars as Catalysts of Political and Cultural Change
Myron J. Aronoff

Part II. Cultural Sites

3. The Masada Mythical Narrative and the Israeli Army
Nachman Ben-Yehuda

4. The Independence Day Military Parade: A Political History of a Patriotic Ritual
Maoz Azaryahu

5. War, Heroism, and Public Representations: The Case of a Museum of "Coexistence" in Jerusalem
Efrat Ben Ze'ev and Eyal Ben-Ari

Part III. The Constructions of Life-Worlds

6. Army and War: Collective Narratives of Early Childhood in Contemporary Israel
Mirta Furman

7. Masks and Soldiering: The Israeli Army and the Palestinian Uprising
Eyal Ben-Ari

8. Militarism and the Construction of the Life-World of Israeli Males: The Case of the Reserves System
Sara Helman

Part IV. Gender, Hegemony, and Resistance

9. Gender, Body, and the National Subject: Israeli Women's Poetry in the War if Independence
Hannan Hever

10. Filming National Identity: War and Woman in Israeli Cinema
Anat Zanger

11. Engendering the Gulf War: Israeli Nurses and the Discourse of Soldiering
Meira Z. Weiss

12. Epilogue
Edna Lomsky-Feder and Eyal Ben-Ari

About the Contributors

Index

Investigates the cultural and social constructions of issues related to war, the armed forces, and national security in Israel.

Description

The Military and Militarism in Israeli Society systematically examines the cultural and social construction of 'things military' within Israel. Contributors from comparative literature, film studies, sociology, anthropology, geography, history, and cultural studies explore the arenas in which the centrality of military matters are produced and reproduced by the state and by other public bodies. Analysis is presented using three perspectives: the production and reproduction of collective representations; the dynamics of gender, voice, and resistance; and the construction of individual life-worlds.

Edna Lomsky-Feder is lecturer in the School of Education, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Eyal Ben-Ari is Associate Professor of Sociology and Anthropology in The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is the author of Body Projects in Japanese Childcare: Culture, Organization and Emotions in a Preschool.

Reviews

"Anyone who wants to understand Israel, the structure of the state and of its society, the behavior of its sub-groups, or the ways in which Israelis give meaning to their behavior will want to read this book." — James D. Armstrong, State University of New York, Plattsburgh