New Book: Katz, Bringing Zion Home. Israel in American Jewish Culture

Katz, Emily Alice. Bringing Zion Home. Israel in American Jewish Culture, 1948-1967. Albany: SUNY Press, 2015.

 

 

Bringing Zion Home examines the role of culture in the establishment of the “special relationship” between the United States and Israel in the immediate postwar decades. Many American Jews first encountered Israel through their roles as tastemakers, consumers, and cultural impresarios—that is, by writing and reading about Israel; dancing Israeli folk dances; promoting and purchasing Israeli goods; and presenting Israeli art and music. It was precisely by means of these cultural practices, argues Emily Alice Katz, that American Jews insisted on Israel’s “natural” place in American culture, a phenomenon that continues to shape America’s relationship with Israel today.

Katz shows that American Jews’ promotion and consumption of Israel in the cultural realm was bound up with multiple agendas, including the quest for Jewish authenticity in a postimmigrant milieu and the desire of upwardly mobile Jews to polish their status in American society. And, crucially, as influential cultural and political elites positioned “culture” as both an engine of American dominance and as a purveyor of peace in the Cold War, many of Israel’s American Jewish impresarios proclaimed publicly that cultural patronage of and exchange with Israel advanced America’s interests in the Middle East and helped spread the “American way” in the postwar world. Bringing Zion Home is the first book to shine a light squarely upon the role and importance of Israel in the arts, popular culture, and material culture of postwar America.

Emily Alice Katz teaches history at the University of California, Irvine.

 

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments

1. Introduction: Postwar American Jewry Reconsidered

2. Before Exodus: Writing Israel for an American Audience

3. Hora Hootenannies and Yemenite Hoedowns: Israeli Folk Dance in America

4. A Consuming Passion: Israeli Goods in American Jewish Culture

5. Cultural Emissaries and the Culture Explosion: Introducing Israeli Art and Music

Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index

 

Reviews: Spiegel, Embodying Hebrew Culture

Spiegel, Nina S. Embodying Hebrew Culture. Aesthetics, Athletics, and Dance in the Jewish Community of Mandate Palestine. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2013.

 

 

Reviews:

• Heidecker, Liora Bing. “Review.” Nashim 26 (2014): 163-165.
• Elron, Sari. “Review.” Middle East Journal 68.1 (2014): 165-166.
• Zer-Zion, Shelly. “Review.” Journal of Israeli History 33.2 (2014): 241-244.
• Manor, Dalia. “Review.” Journal of Modern Jewish Studies 15.1 (2016): 159-61.

Event: “Let’s Dance” – A Documentary Film, screening at UCLA, Oct 20, 2014

“Let’s Dance” – A Documentary Film

A panorama of Israeli modern dance and a unique window into Israeli society and history. With vivid performances from many of Israel’s most innovative contemporary choreographers.

Monday, October 20, 2014
7:30 PM – 9:00 PM
James Bridges Theater
Los Angeles, CA 90095

This extraordinary documentary tells the story of Israel’s innovative dance history, exploring how the need to move, shift, and be in constant motion has produced generations of great dancers and choreographers. Through insightful interviews with leading choreographers, including Ohad Naharin, Rami Be’er, and Yasmeen Godder, spectacular performances, and rich archival material, the film traces Israeli dance back to its roots – from the hora circles of the kibbutz to the influences of Martha Graham and the avant-garde – to reveal how dance has become a vital form of expression in Israel today.

Directed by: Gabriel Bibliowicz, 2012 52 min..  In Hebrew with English subtitles

Post-screening discussion with art historian and professor of Israeli visual culture, Anat Gilboa, and Melissa Melpignano, Ph.D. student in Culture and Performance at the UCLA Department of World Arts & Cultures/Dance, focusing on contemporary Israeli choreography.

RSVP in link.

We are very pleased to screen this film in conjunction with the Batsheva Dance Company’s 50th Anniversary performances at Royce Hall (Nov 1,2), presented by the UCLA Center for the Art of Performance and co-sponsored by the Y&S Nazarian Center. For further information, visit cap.ucla.edu. 

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Special Instructions

Public parking available in UCLA Parking Structure 3. Enter the campus at Hilgard and Wyton, and make an immediate right turn onto Charles E. Young Dr. East. Signs will direct you to Parking Structure 3, “pay-per-space” parking. For additional directions to campus, visit http://www.ucla.edu/map.

Cost : Event is free and open to the public. RSVP is required.

CFP: Israel Affairs special issue, Cultural Sociology of Dancing in Israel

[from: http://www.academia.edu/6251234/]

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Call for Papers

Special issue of Israel Affairs

 A Dancing Nation – Cultural Sociology of Dancing in Israel

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In history, dance has contributed towards creating friendship and understanding. For example, in newly established communities of British settlers in Australia dancing helped newcomers to interact with locals and establish friendly relations (Clendinnen, 2005). Some form of dance exists in social life since early days. For example, ballet as a formalized form of dance exists since 15th century Italy, and from Italy it spread to France and then other countries. At first, ballet was intertwined with opera, but theatrical ballet quickly found its place as an independent form of art. On the other hand, wider population developed traditional folk dances, which today form part of national cultures. In Judaism, dance presents a social tradition since ancient times because Jews have always expressed joy through dancing. This practice continued after the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 when Jews even danced on the day modern state of Israel was established, and Israeli state has a rich dancing culture:  both folk and artistic. During 1940s, Jewish community was seeking its right to self-determination, and Jewish communities developed Hebrew culture as a national culture that will foster new national Jewish identity (Rottenberg 2013; Maoz 2000). Dance also had an important position in creating the state, and particularly the artistic dance performed mostly by European settlers. Jewish communities also developed folk and modern dance inspired by their countries of origin and the Zionist movement (Rottenberg, 2013). In 1950s, American dance groups came to Israel and this helped in spreading expressionism in dance techniques (Rottenberg, 2013). Various dance companies were established during the 1960s, and while folk dances were created from all distinctive traditions in the land of Israel and from Jews who came to Israel after the creation of the modern state of Israel (Roginsky 2007; Eshel 2011), modern and artistic dance are flourishing in Israel. However, dance has not been without divisions in Israeli society and; thus, there is a conflict between Eastern and Western Jewish dances and the position of these two dancing tradition is not the same (Yellin, 2011).

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This volume seeks contributions that tackle socio-cultural aspects of dance, the role of dance in contemporary Israeli society and everyday lives of Israelis. Papers are invited for the following topics: Judaism and dance Jewish dance culture in Israel Zionist dances and culture Impact of dance on everyday lives of Israelis and understanding between Jews of various backgrounds Americanization of dance in Israel Globalization of dance in Israel Influence of the immigration (Russian, Ethiopian, etc.) Dancing and its representation in Israeli Media Dancing and the discourse of ‘prestige’ vs. ‘mass’ culture This special volume is supposed to contribute to increasing of the knowledge about Israel and Jewish studies, as well as to contribute to better understanding of cultural studies and the role of dance in creating and preserving cultural identities. All articles will be a subject to editorial screening and independent peer review, and have to be prepared according to Israel Affairs standards:

http://www.tandfonline.com/action/authorSubmission?journalCode=fisa20&page=instructions

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Abstracts are due June1st, 2014, and should be sent to:

martina@socialsciencesandhumanities.com

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Decisions will be sent by July 1st, 2014. Full papers are due December 1st, 2014. Acceptance of abstract does not automatically guarantee the final paper will be accepted since papers will be subjects to two independent peer-reviews.