Jewish-Israeli National Identity and Dissidence

A critical examination of Zionism and its internal resistance by Israeli Jews, this book employs a unique perspective on Israel/Palestine by eschewing presenting identities as concrete and, rather, examining their creation through discourse.

"Attwell sets to uncover, interpret and reconstruct the ways in which Jewish-Israeli dissidents negotiate some apparent (even if unnamed or incapable of being named) dilemmas in their very identities. She convincingly delineates the parameters of the construction of reality by the Zionist discourse. Attwell's empirical work is a tour de force of narrative analysis, demonstrating independence, insight and thoughtfulness. Her honest and sensitive writing handles the nuances of her subjects, managing to see them much more clearly than they view themselves. This book is a valuable contribution to our understanding of one of humanity's most powerful inventions, namely nationalism." - Dr Yaacov Yadgar, author of Secularism and Religion in Jewish Israeli Politics: Traditionists and Modernity

"Katie Attwell has written a highly original, methodologically sophisticated exploration of just how deep are the rifts in Israeli identity, chiefly through extended interviews of 11 'dissident' Israelis in order to understand in depth the logic of their protests. A fascinating look at the pathology of living in the 'Jewish State' and the internal limits to its reform." - Professor Joel Kovel, author of Overcoming Zionism: Creating a Single Democratic State in Israel/Palestine

Autorentext
Katie Attwell works in the Sir Walter Murdoch School of Public Policy and International Affairs at Murdoch University, Australia. She has a background as a practitioner of activism, community development and advocacy. She is interested in 'middle spaces' in social movements and discourses, and her research interests include nationalism, ethnic conflict, sex and gender, identity politics and the teaching of critical approaches to identity.

Inhalt
Preface Introduction PART I: CONTEXT 1. Ressentiment and the State 2. Ressentiment Zionism 3. The Dissidents' Context PART II: DISSENT 4. Meet the Dissidents 5. The Themes of Dissident Dissonance: Historicisation and Identification 6. The Themes of Dissident Dissonance: Zionism and the Self 7. Dissident Discourses 8. Conclusion