Dance and authenticity in Israel and Palestine : performing the nation / by Elke Kaschl.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kaschl, Elke.

Contributor:

Rosengarten Family Fund.

Series:

Social, economic, and political studies of the Middle East and Asia ; v. 89.

Social, economic and political studies of the Middle East and Asia ; v. 89

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Folk dancing--Israel--History.

Folk dancing.

Folk dancing--West Bank--History.

Folk dancing--Social aspects--Israel.

Folk dancing--Social aspects--West Bank.

Jewish-Arab relations.

Folk dancing--Social aspects.

History.

West Bank.

Israel.

Physical Description:

xx, 335 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm.

Place of Publication:

Leiden ; Boston : Brill, 2003.

Summary:

"Dance and Authenticity is an ethnography of dance performance and cultural form. It describes how "dabkeh, a type of dance performed at Palestinian weddings, became a model for the Israeli Jewish "debkah as a means of affirming Israeli Jewish belonging and common society. The Palestinian "dabkeh, in turn, acquired nationalist meanings, especially after the 1967 war and the occupation of the West Bank. The book traces the history of these competing, and conflicting, dance forms, basing the argument principally on the ethnographic study of two Palestinian and one Israeli Jewish dance group conducted between 1998 and 1999. The result is a fascinating parallel ethnography, showing how the ethnography of dance forms contributes to evolving notions of collective national and political identity in a context of unequal power.

Contents:

Stage Settings xv

Chapter 1. Investigating the Performance of Nationalism as a Relational Process Between Israel and Palestine 1

Issues of Theory and Method 1

Investigating nationalism as a relational process 1

The performance of nationalism 11

Folk dance as a performance of nationalism 14

Dabkeh/ debkah on stage in Israel and Palestine 19

Data Acquisition 24

Defining the 'field' 24

'Deep hanging out' with folk dance groups in Israel and Palestine 26

Working with the groups 31

Chapter 2. Struggling for Modern Statehood: Authenticity, Gender and a Twice Invented Tradition 36

Performing Modern Israeli Jewishness: The Case of the Israeli debkah 39

Early beginnings of Jewish dancing in Ottoman Palestine, 1882-1914 40

New Jews as dancing pioneers, 1920s-30s 43

Authenticating Jewish dancing through dabkeh, 1930s-1940s 50

Institutionalizing rikudai `am israeli as a new tradition for a new country, 1948-1968 62

Performing Modern Palestinianness: The Case of the Palestinian dabkeh 71

Changing discourse: From an Arab Levantine social practice to authentic Palestinian heritage 72

Dabkeh on stage as al-turath al-sha`bi al-filastini 81

Chapter 3. Changing Ways of Movement: The Palestinian Popular Dance Troupe El-Funoun, 1979-1999 97

Changing Styles: From dabkeh to raqs filastini 100

Steadfast Resistance, 1979-1987 100

Rising Up, 1987-1989 112

Stalemate, 1989-1993 119

Separate Lives, 1993-1999 122

Changing Style, Not Meaning 137

The social acceptability of raqs in the late nineties 138

Making raqs acceptable 145

Performing the nation behind the backdrop of a globalizing environment 152

Chapter 4. Making Place: Karmei Makhol, 1982-1999 158

From Space to Place: Putting Karmi`el on the Map

"Samnu et Karmi`el `al ha-Mapah!" 162

Consolidating Hierarchies: Multiculturalism in the Heart of the Galilee 180

A city of integration 180

Everyday realities 184

Consolidating hierarchies through debkah 198

Chapter 5. Improvising in Between: Al-Asayyel, 1988-1999 206

Establishing a tradition of 'authentic' dabkeh dancing in the Galilee 209

Behind the scenes: What shaped Al-Asayyel's dabkeh 218

"Do the Right Thing!"

The Israeli Jewish discourse of authenticity 218

"Don't Sell Out!"

The Palestinian discourse of preservation 243

Changing realities between Israel and Palestine: Performing Israeli Arabness in the Galilee 258

Tables 1-8 Group Profiles 291

Tables 9-12 Motivation to dance 295.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [307]-328) and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Rosengarten Family Fund.

ISBN:

9004132384

OCLC:

52208637