“Israeli Culture and Society: 1880-Present”
Eli Sperling, Emory University, Spring/Fall 2019
Upon its inception, Zionism needed more than political and financial solutions to actualize a Jewish home in Palestine. It was necessary for the architects of the Zionist enterprise to cultivate a “new Jew” to lay the societal foundation for what would become the State of Israel. The result was a largely European, secular and labor-focused conception of Hebrew and then Israeli society and culture. However, in the decades after Israel’s independence in 1948, staggered waves of culturally, religiously and geographically diverse Jewish immigrants came to Israel. These immigrant groups from the Middle East, North Africa, Ethiopia, the former Soviet Union, Western Europe and other locations, as well as Israel’s Arab population, have all challenged the still-evolving notion of “Israeliness.” Through the lens of scholarly works, music, literature and other media, this course explores the many layers of Israeli culture and society.
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