Israeli Feminist Scholarship
Israeli Feminist Scholarship
Gender, Zionism, and Difference
The last two decades have given rise to a proliferation of scholarship by Israeli feminists working in diverse fields, ranging from sociology to literature, anthropology, and history. As the Israeli feminist movement continually decentralizes and diversifies, it has become less Eurocentric and heterocentric, making way for pluralistic concerns. Collecting fifteen previously published essays that give voice to this diversity, Israeli Feminist Scholarship showcases articles on Ashkenazi, Mizrahi, Palestinian, and lesbian identities as well as on Israeli women’s roles as mothers, citizens and activists, and soldiers.
Citing evidence that these scholars have redefined their object of inquiry as an open site of contested and constructed identity, luminary Esther Fuchs traces the history of Israeli feminism. Among the essays are Jewish historian Margalit Shilo’s study of the New Hebrew Woman, sociologist Ronit Lentin’s analysis of gendered representations of the Holocaust in Israeli culture, peace activist Erella Shadmi on lesbianism as a nonissue in Israel, and cultural critic Nitza Berkovitch’s examination of womanhood as constructed in Israeli legal discourse.
Creating a space for a critical examination of the relationship between disparate yet analogous discourses within feminism and Zionism, this anthology reclaims the mobilizing, inclusive role of these multifaceted discourses beyond the postmodern paradigm.
An excellent volume. Many of us who teach Women and Judaism courses have longed for a good book that would serve to introduce students to the many concerns in Israeli feminist scholarship and life. This book fits the bill.
Preface
Introduction. Israeli Feminist Scholarship: Gender, Zionism, and Difference
Esther Fuchs
Chapter One. The Evolution of Critical Paradigms in Israeli Feminist Scholarship: A Theoretical Model
Esther Fuchs
Chapter Two. Politicizing Masculinities: Shahada and Haganah
Sheila H. Katz
Chapter Three. The Double or Multiple Image of the New Hebrew Woman
Margalit Shilo
Chapter Four. The Heroism of Hannah Senesz: An Exercise in Creating Collective National Memory in the State of Israel
Judith T. Baumel
Chapter Five. The Feminisation of Stigma in the Relationship Between Israelis and Shoah Survivors
Ronit Lentin
Chapter Six. Gendering Military Service in the Israel Defense Forces
Dafna N. Izraeli
Chapter Seven. The Halachic Trap: Marriage and Family Life
Ruth Halperin-Kaddari
Chapter Eight. Motherhood as a National Mission: The Construction of Womanhood in the Legal Discourse in Israel
Nitza Berkovitch
Chapter Nine. No Home at Home: Women’s Fiction vs. Zionist Practice
Yaffah Berlovitz
Chapter Ten. Wasteland Revisited: An Ecofeminist Strategy
Hannah Naveh
Chapter Eleven. Tensions in Israeli Feminism: The Mizrahi
Ashkenazi Rift
Henriette Dahan-Kalev
Chapter Twelve. Scholarship, Identity, and Power: Mizrahi Women in Israel
Pnina Motzafi-Haller
Chapter Thirteen. Reexamining Femicide: Breaking the Silence and Crossing “Scientific” Borders
Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian
Chapter Fourteen. The Construction of Lesbianism as Nonissue in Israel
Erella Shadmi
Chapter Fifteen. From Gender to Genders: Feminists Read Women’s Locations in Israeli Society
Hanna Herzog
Acknowledgments
Contributors
Index
