In this article, ethnofiction is discussed as a scholar-activist methodology that offers advantag... more In this article, ethnofiction is discussed as a scholar-activist methodology that offers advantages for interior protest within community borders. The case study centers on the affair of the abducted Yemenite-Jewish children in Israel. Ethnographic studies and the researcher’s experience with members of the community serve as sources for a dramatic dialogue that reflects the definition of, and coping with, a problem as the topic of protest in the affair. The connection between the case study and its sources of information is stressed and the ethnodrama is instantiated as a transformative methodology. The findings on the acceptance of this ethnofiction in the community show that the transformative methodology allowed the researcher to send a clear and empathetic message of protest to social activists in the affair and did not endanger the researcher-activist as an agent of change. Ethnofiction accommodates the unconventionality of scholar-activism by reflecting the challenge of an interior protest among social activists in a community of victims of a collective trauma, expressed by an encounter with the supernatural. The discussion centers on the efficacy of ethnofiction as a dramatic strategy and the advantages of subverting the “aesthetics of objectivity” in matters of victims’ representation and agency.
This article reexamines the concept of gerotranscendence in the light of anthropological findings... more This article reexamines the concept of gerotranscendence in the light of anthropological findings. Particular social patterns in a nursing home reveal a unique reality communal to its tenants. The author assumes that the tenants' spontaneous patterns of social gathering construct a collective death consciousness which is spiritual in its nature. Tornstam's term "another paradigm" seems suitable not only for a developmental shift in old age but also for the situational shift in the daily life of the subjects. Anthropological concepts, as well as contextual and intersubjective parameters, join to indicate that some gerotranscendence dimensions are experienced in what the author terms as "sitting" and "giving" episodes.
Death anxiety, fear, denial, and acceptance are theoretical concepts that frame the midlife disco... more Death anxiety, fear, denial, and acceptance are theoretical concepts that frame the midlife discourse about death. This paper uses an historical analysis of an alternative concept, the danse macabre, as a di¤erent viewpoint on death attitudes. The relevance of the danse macabre is further explored by examining verbal strategies among old-age home residents whose collective reality is underpinned by impending death. The discourse of the macabre, in a parallel manner to aphorisms, folktales, parables, and other forms of elderly discourse, is discussed as an example of the dual construction of meaning in old age. It is an example of how the elderly reconstruct 'private languages' of meaning out of externally-imposed forms of discourse that combine the physical and the metaphysical. The danse macabre: A unique discourse among the elderly Relating to one's death, a feat that has always bewildered Mankind, has become an even thornier issue in modern, secular society where religion is less relevant. Nevertheless, people continue to yearn for a 'good death' and try to gain some control over the uncontrollable, even by means of symbolic discourse and rituals. This paper sets out to compare the midlife discourse on death with a particular form of elderly 'death talk'. The former is constructed within academic and professional circles, while the latter takes place in the social world of an old-age home. Both, however, represent the social construction of death perceptions. I o¤er a di¤erent approach to the death talk of elderly people by focusing on the concept of the macabre, as used by old-age home residents whose collective reality is underpinned by impending death. This article consists of three parts. First, the academic discourse on death attitudes is critically discussed. Second, I illustrate the cultural
People in advanced old age with frailties and those who are resident in old-age institutions mana... more People in advanced old age with frailties and those who are resident in old-age institutions manage their identities within the constraints of stigmatised settings. This paper compares the processes of identity construction in an old-age home and in a sheltered housing project for older people in Israel. Applying a symbolic-interactionist perspective that sees old-age institutions as social arenas for the reconstruction of identity, the paper first distinguishes the residents' constructions of stigma and deviance. While the old-age home residents collectively turned their stigma into a source of positive labelling, the sheltered housing residents drew advantages from their previous roles and statuses. Gossip is shown to play a critical role in reproducing stigma, particularly in the old-age home. These findings are used to demonstrate the variability and potential for adaptation among the residents – who are often stereotyped as homogeneous and passive. The paper concludes with ...
The article asks why the Israeli theatre’s ‘voicing hegemony’ practices endure despite a critical... more The article asks why the Israeli theatre’s ‘voicing hegemony’ practices endure despite a critical public debate that favors cultural pluralism. Ethnographies at two central repertory theatres elicit the meanings of the theatre’s ‘back-to-the past’ institutional habitus, as revealed in observations and in-depth interviews with actors, and disclose artistic dispositions that bolster veteran actors’ stature in the theatre and Israeli art generally. Analysis of the findings links professional capital with the twilight of an artist’s theatrical career. One conclusion connects the theatrical habitus with justification of Israel’s Zionist ideology. Theoretically, the article illuminates the historical component of the Bourdieuian concept of habitus. The duplication of this component in the back-to-the-past habitus inheres to mythification processes and makes the theatrical habitus relatively resilient to social changes.
The Performative text is a product of a dialogue between an anthropologist and traditional Yemeni... more The Performative text is a product of a dialogue between an anthropologist and traditional Yemenite-Jewish women about gender power relations in their community. It was composed against the background of criticism of politics of culture, which dismisses the pretension of representation and the hierarchical and patronizing implications of conventional academic writing. At its focus is the prototypical persona of Badra the wailer, who is mediated by paraphrase, narrativity, and polyphonic and sometimes virtuosic vocality—a technique that the subjects themselves use. The performative text reveals deep strata of meaning and diverse aspects of the unique “feminist” thesis proposed for examination and criticism.
The Jewish-Yemenite wailing is a “performed weeping” controlled by the expert wailer who uses spe... more The Jewish-Yemenite wailing is a “performed weeping” controlled by the expert wailer who uses special strategies to manage the audience's emotions. Questions of emotional sincerity and self-authenticity, especially in the context of death events, render an explanation for the decline of wailing in recent years.
This article sheds light on the gender division of roles in the traditional death rituals of Yeme... more This article sheds light on the gender division of roles in the traditional death rituals of Yemenite Jews. This division of roles, i.e. men‘s eulogizing and women‘s wailing, as well as the affective, religious, and class meanings of both practices, is analysed drawing on the research participants' evaluations. The second goal is to describe the relationship between the attitudes of members of one gender (men) toward a practice typical of the other gender (women) in the light of gender theory that relates to collective crisis events. The main argument is that the methodology is intrinsically related to the nature of theoretical thinking about women‘s and men‘s roles. The discussion focuses on the relationship between this methodology and the socio-existential meaning of the structuring of gender differences in death-ritual roles.
Here is described the unique structure of the Western theatre and the audience’s gaze, an element... more Here is described the unique structure of the Western theatre and the audience’s gaze, an element essential for the reception of the Judeo-Christian cosmology—the main dimension of the spectaculum. The audience’s contentless gaze succumbs to the aesthetic magic and the stage attains sovereignty in the theatrical experience. This gaze subverts the theatrical habitus—the dominance of drama—and challenges its importance in establishing the nature and power of the Western theatre as “high culture” among the arts. Against the background of a structural description of the theatre’s “boxes,” the Sinaitic Revelation is shown to be an event-that-models, through which the Western theatre may be understood—an event that embodies the structural and phenomenological properties of the myth.
The immigration to Israel of most of Yemenite Jewry in 1948–1950, titled “Operation Magic Carpet”... more The immigration to Israel of most of Yemenite Jewry in 1948–1950, titled “Operation Magic Carpet” is symbolic of a miraculous leap in space and time from distant Yemen to the modern Jewish state. The Yemenite Jews’ utopian ethos, however, was far from able to foresee the trauma that awaited them in the transit camps where they were placed after their arrival in Israel: the kidnapping of thousands of infants in what became known as the “missing Yemenite-Jewish children affair.”
In this article, ethnofiction is discussed as a scholar-activist methodology that offers advantag... more In this article, ethnofiction is discussed as a scholar-activist methodology that offers advantages for interior protest within community borders. The case study centers on the affair of the abducted Yemenite-Jewish children in Israel. Ethnographic studies and the researcher’s experience with members of the community serve as sources for a dramatic dialogue that reflects the definition of, and coping with, a problem as the topic of protest in the affair. The connection between the case study and its sources of information is stressed and the ethnodrama is instantiated as a transformative methodology. The findings on the acceptance of this ethnofiction in the community show that the transformative methodology allowed the researcher to send a clear and empathetic message of protest to social activists in the affair and did not endanger the researcher-activist as an agent of change. Ethnofiction accommodates the unconventionality of scholar-activism by reflecting the challenge of an interior protest among social activists in a community of victims of a collective trauma, expressed by an encounter with the supernatural. The discussion centers on the efficacy of ethnofiction as a dramatic strategy and the advantages of subverting the “aesthetics of objectivity” in matters of victims’ representation and agency.
This article reexamines the concept of gerotranscendence in the light of anthropological findings... more This article reexamines the concept of gerotranscendence in the light of anthropological findings. Particular social patterns in a nursing home reveal a unique reality communal to its tenants. The author assumes that the tenants' spontaneous patterns of social gathering construct a collective death consciousness which is spiritual in its nature. Tornstam's term "another paradigm" seems suitable not only for a developmental shift in old age but also for the situational shift in the daily life of the subjects. Anthropological concepts, as well as contextual and intersubjective parameters, join to indicate that some gerotranscendence dimensions are experienced in what the author terms as "sitting" and "giving" episodes.
Death anxiety, fear, denial, and acceptance are theoretical concepts that frame the midlife disco... more Death anxiety, fear, denial, and acceptance are theoretical concepts that frame the midlife discourse about death. This paper uses an historical analysis of an alternative concept, the danse macabre, as a di¤erent viewpoint on death attitudes. The relevance of the danse macabre is further explored by examining verbal strategies among old-age home residents whose collective reality is underpinned by impending death. The discourse of the macabre, in a parallel manner to aphorisms, folktales, parables, and other forms of elderly discourse, is discussed as an example of the dual construction of meaning in old age. It is an example of how the elderly reconstruct 'private languages' of meaning out of externally-imposed forms of discourse that combine the physical and the metaphysical. The danse macabre: A unique discourse among the elderly Relating to one's death, a feat that has always bewildered Mankind, has become an even thornier issue in modern, secular society where religion is less relevant. Nevertheless, people continue to yearn for a 'good death' and try to gain some control over the uncontrollable, even by means of symbolic discourse and rituals. This paper sets out to compare the midlife discourse on death with a particular form of elderly 'death talk'. The former is constructed within academic and professional circles, while the latter takes place in the social world of an old-age home. Both, however, represent the social construction of death perceptions. I o¤er a di¤erent approach to the death talk of elderly people by focusing on the concept of the macabre, as used by old-age home residents whose collective reality is underpinned by impending death. This article consists of three parts. First, the academic discourse on death attitudes is critically discussed. Second, I illustrate the cultural
People in advanced old age with frailties and those who are resident in old-age institutions mana... more People in advanced old age with frailties and those who are resident in old-age institutions manage their identities within the constraints of stigmatised settings. This paper compares the processes of identity construction in an old-age home and in a sheltered housing project for older people in Israel. Applying a symbolic-interactionist perspective that sees old-age institutions as social arenas for the reconstruction of identity, the paper first distinguishes the residents' constructions of stigma and deviance. While the old-age home residents collectively turned their stigma into a source of positive labelling, the sheltered housing residents drew advantages from their previous roles and statuses. Gossip is shown to play a critical role in reproducing stigma, particularly in the old-age home. These findings are used to demonstrate the variability and potential for adaptation among the residents – who are often stereotyped as homogeneous and passive. The paper concludes with ...
The article asks why the Israeli theatre’s ‘voicing hegemony’ practices endure despite a critical... more The article asks why the Israeli theatre’s ‘voicing hegemony’ practices endure despite a critical public debate that favors cultural pluralism. Ethnographies at two central repertory theatres elicit the meanings of the theatre’s ‘back-to-the past’ institutional habitus, as revealed in observations and in-depth interviews with actors, and disclose artistic dispositions that bolster veteran actors’ stature in the theatre and Israeli art generally. Analysis of the findings links professional capital with the twilight of an artist’s theatrical career. One conclusion connects the theatrical habitus with justification of Israel’s Zionist ideology. Theoretically, the article illuminates the historical component of the Bourdieuian concept of habitus. The duplication of this component in the back-to-the-past habitus inheres to mythification processes and makes the theatrical habitus relatively resilient to social changes.
The Performative text is a product of a dialogue between an anthropologist and traditional Yemeni... more The Performative text is a product of a dialogue between an anthropologist and traditional Yemenite-Jewish women about gender power relations in their community. It was composed against the background of criticism of politics of culture, which dismisses the pretension of representation and the hierarchical and patronizing implications of conventional academic writing. At its focus is the prototypical persona of Badra the wailer, who is mediated by paraphrase, narrativity, and polyphonic and sometimes virtuosic vocality—a technique that the subjects themselves use. The performative text reveals deep strata of meaning and diverse aspects of the unique “feminist” thesis proposed for examination and criticism.
The Jewish-Yemenite wailing is a “performed weeping” controlled by the expert wailer who uses spe... more The Jewish-Yemenite wailing is a “performed weeping” controlled by the expert wailer who uses special strategies to manage the audience's emotions. Questions of emotional sincerity and self-authenticity, especially in the context of death events, render an explanation for the decline of wailing in recent years.
This article sheds light on the gender division of roles in the traditional death rituals of Yeme... more This article sheds light on the gender division of roles in the traditional death rituals of Yemenite Jews. This division of roles, i.e. men‘s eulogizing and women‘s wailing, as well as the affective, religious, and class meanings of both practices, is analysed drawing on the research participants' evaluations. The second goal is to describe the relationship between the attitudes of members of one gender (men) toward a practice typical of the other gender (women) in the light of gender theory that relates to collective crisis events. The main argument is that the methodology is intrinsically related to the nature of theoretical thinking about women‘s and men‘s roles. The discussion focuses on the relationship between this methodology and the socio-existential meaning of the structuring of gender differences in death-ritual roles.
Here is described the unique structure of the Western theatre and the audience’s gaze, an element... more Here is described the unique structure of the Western theatre and the audience’s gaze, an element essential for the reception of the Judeo-Christian cosmology—the main dimension of the spectaculum. The audience’s contentless gaze succumbs to the aesthetic magic and the stage attains sovereignty in the theatrical experience. This gaze subverts the theatrical habitus—the dominance of drama—and challenges its importance in establishing the nature and power of the Western theatre as “high culture” among the arts. Against the background of a structural description of the theatre’s “boxes,” the Sinaitic Revelation is shown to be an event-that-models, through which the Western theatre may be understood—an event that embodies the structural and phenomenological properties of the myth.
The immigration to Israel of most of Yemenite Jewry in 1948–1950, titled “Operation Magic Carpet”... more The immigration to Israel of most of Yemenite Jewry in 1948–1950, titled “Operation Magic Carpet” is symbolic of a miraculous leap in space and time from distant Yemen to the modern Jewish state. The Yemenite Jews’ utopian ethos, however, was far from able to foresee the trauma that awaited them in the transit camps where they were placed after their arrival in Israel: the kidnapping of thousands of infants in what became known as the “missing Yemenite-Jewish children affair.”
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