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The present paper seeks to re-evaluate explanations for the apparently high level of Jewish fertility in Israel. We suggest that previous explanations, based on ethnic origin or religiosity, are sociologically incomplete, and substitute well established empirical correlational associations for theoretically grounded explanations. We argue that Israel's high fertility stems, directly, from the form and salience of nationalist sentiments in the Israeli conscience collective, which in turn derives from Israel's special position in the Middle East and in the world-economy. Using voting returns from Israel's proportional vote elections, we classify census statistical areas by religiosity and their support for radical nationalist parties. We show that area-level fertility is a function of nationalist support and the area standard of living, and that once these are controlled the effect of religiosity is insignificant. We therefore conclude that the statistical association between fertility and religiosity in Israel is spurious, and that much of the religiosity recorded in fertility surveys is an expression, in consciousness and in the mode of daily living, of a strongly felt nationalist sentiment.Anson, J., Meir, A., 1995. Religiosit6, nationalisme et f6condit6 en Israel. European Journal of Population/Revue Europ6enne de D6mogmphie 12: 1-25, 1996.

This paper off ers an overview of the dispersed elements of social spatiality present in the rich work about pastoralists and their space, and brings them together under the conceptual framework of Lefebvre's production of space. The three facets of pastorally produced space are outlined: 'perceived space', low-intensity spatial footprints linked by seasonal migratory trails; 'conceived space', social territoriality and agrarian socialism; and 'lived space', ideologies of spatial attachment that transcend a particular place. Based on this framework, we discuss and illustrate with case studies the relational aspects between pastoral economic, cultural, and political structures and their spatiality. We suggest that such an engagement highlights the reciprocal constitutive interaction between space and society and the coherent nature of the production of pastoral space. We argue that the extent to which pastoral spatial coherence can be maintained in the face of pressures from other, rival, and often more powerful spatialities is paramount to the sustainability of pastoralist existence.

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