Event overview
by Goldsmiths Centre for Postcolonial Studies, Global Middle East Seminar Series
Professor Yaacov Yadgar's talk will explicate a tension that lies at the very root of discourse on Israel as a Jewish state. He argues that the academic and political fields tend to confuse and conflate two different, often contradictory understandings or constructions of the very meaning of Jewish politics. Schematically labelling these as Jewish politics vs. the politics of Jews (and derived from these, the outlook of Israel as a “Jewish state” versus the notion of it being solely a “state of Jews”), he argues that the conflicting political and ideological constructions nourish on different readings of Jewish identity and authenticity, which were first developed in Europe by leading (self-identified secular) Zionist ideologues, and later shaped mainstream readings of Israeli politics. The talk outlines the basic contours of this conceptual distinction, traces its roots in Zionist ideology (as developed in Eastern and Central Europe), and concludes with a consideration of the playing out of the tension at hand in contemporary Israeli politics.
Chair: Dr Tara Povey (Goldsmiths, University of London).
Yaacov Yadgar is Stanley Lewis Professor of Israel Studies, School of Interdisciplinary Area Studies and Department of Politics and International Relations Fellow at St. Anne’s. His research revolves around issues of Jewish identity, religion, politics, and secularism. He focuses on placing Israel in theoretical and epistemological frameworks that bear obvious relevance beyond the specific case history. His scholarship is multidisciplinary, encompassing Jewish, political, cultural, religious, and media studies. He concentrates on Israeli socio-politics (especially Israeli Judaism) and on the epistemological, historical, and political dimensions of Israeli identity.
Goldsmiths' Centre for Postcolonial Studies Global Middle East Seminar Series
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Dates & times
| Date | Time | Add to calendar |
|---|---|---|
| 25 Nov 2020 | 6:00pm - 7:30pm |
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