Israel in the Making

Hagar Salamon is Max and Margarethe Grunwald Chair in Folklore at Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She is author of The Hyena People: Ethiopian Jews in Christian Ethiopia.

Written with a high awareness of folkloristic theory, the book will appeal not only to scholars interested in the evolving modern culture of Israel, but also to folklorists interested in critical and practice theory applied to traditionalized activities.(Choice) A richly researched book that meaningfully weaves together material culture study and narrative discourse, traditional and popular cultures, and politics and play, Israel in the Making is a multi-layered contribution to many adjacent fields.(Journal of American Folklore) Hagar Salamon's book is among a number of fascinating postmodern responses to the traditional concept of folklore. Its present-tense title, Israel in the Making, already liberates folklore from its frozen image and its association with ethnic groups and the past. A look at the contents reveals its presentation of a wider definition of what is folk and what is lore than has been the standard. The book deals with contemporary Israeli folklore, which is dynamic, constantly changing and far from a matter of the past.(Nashim)

• AcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Studying Israeli FolklorePart One: Folklore in the Israeli Public ArenaPart One Invitation: Bumper Stickers as a Podium in Motion1. Folklore as an Emotional Battleground: Political Bumper Stickers2. "We the people": "Ha'Am" in the Turbulent Sphere of Israeli Roads3. Kinetic Cosmologies: Sovereign and SovereigntyPart One Recapitulation: Public Interaction on the MovePart Two: Expressions in the Intimate Arena of EmbroideryPart Two Invitation: Embroidering Identity—Needlework and Needle-Talk4. Embroidering Their Selves: Femininity and Embroidery in a Jerusalem Women's Group5. Life Story as a Foundation Legend of Local Identity6. The Intimate Career of a Transitional Object: Needlepoint EmbroideriesPart Two Recapitulation: Needle Texts—Knowledge, Passion, and EmpowermentPart Three: Between the Public and the Private—The Mirrors of AmbivalencePart Three Invitation: Emplacing Israeliness—Shifting Performances of Belonging and Otherness7. The Floor Falling Away: Dislocated Space and Body in the Humor of Ethiopian Immigrants in Israel8. What Goes Around, Comes Around: Rotating Credit Associations among Ethiopian Women in Israel9. "David Levi" Jokes: The Ambivalence over the Levantinization of IsraelPart Three Recapitulation: Between Longing and Belonging—The Folkloric Expressions of AmbivalenceClosing Words: The Birth of Public Enunciation from the Spirit of Everyday LifeBibliographyIndex