Languages of Science in the Era of Nation-state Formation: The Israeli Universities and Their (non)Participation in the Revival of Hebrew

Abstract

This paper presents sociological analysis of the linguistic and cultural identity of two of Israel's most influential and high-ranked universities during their formative years, that were also the de facto formative years of the Israeli state-in-the-making (1924 Á 1948). We argue that the influence of external universal factors on a nationstate was sometimes crucial long before the period characterised by social scientists as an era of globalisation. Influenced by European nationalism, the leaders of the Zionist movement emphasised the importance of the restoration of Hebrew as a national language. In various European national movements the universities played a central role in the revival or creation of a national culture: the language, the national epic, the folklore were all cultivated and nurtured by the universities. This was not the case in the Jewish renaissance: the cultural revolution took place outside academia. The most cardinal phenomenon in this context Á the revival of the Hebrew language Á had almost no connection whatsoever with academic bodies. The phenomenon discussed in this essay should not be underestimated by historians and sociologists, especially provided the fact that Israel is traditionally perceived as one of the most successful and impressive instances of nation building in the 20th century.