Israel's National Historiography

The book analyses the development of Israel's national identity through the world of local Jewish Zionist historiography. Inspired by Norbert Elias' historical and figurational sociology, the book examines the different phases and generations in Israel in light of the collective habitus and the nation-state survival unit, set by Zionism. It does so by putting in relation the intellectual profession of history-writing and the processes of state and identity building. It processually pursues the autonomization of the historiographical field in Israel from its socio-genesis in pre-state Israel to recent decades. By combining together well-established literature on the relations between nationalism and statehood and on the particularity of the Israeli case, the book updates the state of the art and opens new debates on Jewish\Israeli exceptionalism, while shedding light on continuity and change in Israeli statehood vis-à-vis the supposed uniqueness of Jewish history, as reinterpreted and codified by Zionism. As it examines the interconnections between local intelligentsia and politics, the enquiry avails of the sociological concepts of generation, habitus, survival unit, field, according to the long-period tradition of research in Pierre Bourdieu, Norbert Elias, Max Weber, and more. This rich sociological conceptualization permits to mirror and contextualize Israel's national identity with both intellectual and sociopolitical emphases. By situating Israeli historians and their profession on the dynamic crossroads and intersections of academia, politics, and greater society, the study delineates the deep meaning of Israeliness.

Provides a theory-guided history of Israel organized around a long-term narrative Uses Elias's sociological theorizing and Bourdieu's field theory to examine the process of state-building in Israel Adds to the scholarship on intellectual and academic history beyond Western Europe

Autorentext

Alon Helled, PhD in social and political change, is a post-doctoral fellow and an adjunct lecturer at the University of Turin, Italy. He is specialized in Israeli society and politics from a socio-historical perspective. He is a fellow of the Norbert Elias Foundation since 2018, and a member of various scientific associations of social sciences, politics and Israeli studies.

Klappentext

The book analyses the development of Israel's national identity through the world of local Jewish Zionist historiography. Inspired by Norbert Elias' historical and figurational sociology, the book examines the different phases and generations in Israel in light of the collective habitus and the nation-state survival unit, set by Zionism. It does so by putting in relation the intellectual profession of history-writing and the processes of state and identity building. It processually pursues the autonomization of the historiographical field in Israel from its socio-genesis in pre-state Israel to recent decades. By combining together well-established literature on the relations between nationalism and statehood and on the particularity of the Israeli case, the book updates the state of the art and opens new debates on Jewish\Israeli exceptionalism, while shedding light on continuity and change in Israeli statehood vis-à-vis the supposed uniqueness of Jewish history, as reinterpreted and codified by Zionism. As it examines the interconnections between local intelligentsia and politics, the enquiry avails of the sociological concepts of "generation," "habitus," "survival unit," "field," according to the long-period tradition of research in Pierre Bourdieu, Norbert Elias, Max Weber, and more. This rich sociological conceptualization permits to mirror and contextualize Israel's national identity with both intellectual and sociopolitical emphases. By situating Israeli historians and their profession on the dynamic crossroads and intersections of academia, politics, and greater society, the study delineates the deep meaning of "Israeliness."

Inhalt

Chapter 1. Introduction: Israeli Historiography as A Case Study Between Nation and Scholarship.- Chapter 2. Habitus, National Identity and State-building.- Chapter 3. Komemyiut: Pre-statehood and Historiographical Enterprising.- Chapter 4. Mamlakhtyiut: The Silver Platter and Consolidation of Israel's National Habitus.- Chapter 5. Artziyut: No Country Other and The Double-Edged Banalization of Israeli National Habitus in Israeli Historiography.