The Israel BBQ as national ritual: performing unofficial nationalism, or finding meaning in triviality

Shoham, Hizky

doi:10.1057/s41290-019-00073-y

Cited by 10 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 71 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Brubaker (2009, p. 29) has pointed out the new direction moving "from attempts to specify what an ethnic or racial group or nation is to attempts to specify how ethnicity, race, and nation work". Other researchers have suggested similar directions for research focusing on nationalism from the bottom up (Bonikowski 2016) as well as everyday nationalism (Fox and Miller-Idriss 2008) and unofficial nationalism (Shoham 2021). This point of view shifts the perspective from the elites towards the "lay understandings of the nation" (Bonikowski 2016, p. 428) which interpret and reshape the national consciousness in a more dynamic and selective way.…”

Section: Preface: Dynamic Ethnonationalismmentioning

confidence: 89%

Dynamic Ethnonationalism: The Ongoing Changes in the Ethnonational Borders—Israel in a Global Perspective

Fisher

2022

Religions

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The purpose of this research is to present a new model for understanding ethnonationalism: the dynamic ethnonationalism model, which depicts ethnic nationalism as an entity comprised of inherited elements as well as selective and changing ones. According to this new concept, ethnic nationalism, which is usually thought of as a “closed” given kinship, also has a flexible and voluntary nature, similar yet not identical to civic nationalism. Ethnic nationalism is indeed based on inherited elements—innate religion, descent, language, territory, etc., that are not subject to individual choice. However, each ethnic and sub-ethnic group re-interpret and re-implement these elements differently according to changing circumstances, perceptions and competing interests. This theory is examined through changes in immigration and naturalization policies which occurred in various ethnic states. The de- and re-ethnicization processes, the inclusion and exclusion trends engendered by changing boundaries of the ethnic collective, analyzed in this research, serve to illustrate the dynamic construction of ethnonationalism, managed by its multiple interest groups and policy makers. Following a concise review of the connection between ethnonationalism and citizenship throughout the world, the research delves into the Israeli case. The evolving boundaries of the Jewish-Israeli collective and the dispute concerning its definitions (“Who is a Jew”) offer a detailed demonstration of the dynamic ethnonationalism model. The Jewish-Israeli case, which is usually viewed as the ultimate example of rigid ethnicity based on religious stringencies, exhibits how ethnicity contains competing subjective interpretations (“Sub-Jew-ctivity”) that are simultaneously exclusive and inclusive. Thus, the integration of contradictory ethnic definitions into Israel’s laws and policies exhibits a dynamic, hybrid and “soft” ethnic national identity.

show abstract

Section: Preface: Dynamic Ethnonationalismmentioning

confidence: 89%

Dynamic Ethnonationalism: The Ongoing Changes in the Ethnonational Borders—Israel in a Global Perspective

Fisher

2022

Religions

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Case studies from the US and Israel note how the barbecue is a ritual that takes place on national holidays, such as the aforementioned Thanksgiving turkey dinner gatherings, thus forming part of national identity and functioning as a type of cultural expression (Shoham 2021). Roof (2010) emphasised the importance of the barbecue for the cultural identity of people in the southern US, describing it as almost a sacred ritual.…”

Section: The Historic and Current Barbecuementioning

confidence: 99%

Eating E.T.: Carnism and Speciesism

Sollund

2023

Int J for Crime, Justice & Social Democracy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article takes as its point of departure an event in which a plant-based version of the space alien, the Extra-Terrestrial (‘E.T.’), from the science fiction film bearing its name, was barbecued and served as a meal to participants at a conference. The soy dish produced different reactions: some laughed, while others seemed appalled. These different sentiments provide the basis for a broad green cultural criminology analysis of the traditions of meat-eating, tracing its role in human history and in the barbecue. The purpose of this is to explore why humans treat different categories of animals so differently. To understand the reactions the meal produced, the article addresses two contrasting aspects of the human–non-human animal relationship—‘carnism’ and ‘pet-keeping’—and contemplates these in relation to the reactions to eating E.T. The goal is to expand on the study of the human–animal relationship, particularly speciesism—understood as ideology and practice that legitimise and produce animal abuse through the analytical concept categorical discriminatory speciesism.

show abstract

“…Scholars of modern nationalism who challenge the dichotomy between ‘civic’ and ‘ethnic’ nationalism also recognize the political ramifications of the nation’s ‘way of life’ for civil inclusivity (e.g. Kaplan, 2018; Kymlicka, 1999; Shoham, 2021a). I suggest a closer examination of the crucial role that ‘manners and mores’ play in the mutual recognition of fellow members of the group as partners in a shared way of life – their sharing of conventional practices without necessarily agreeing on common values, opinions, ideologies, and even identities.…”

Section: The Folkloric Civil Spherementioning

confidence: 99%

“…It should be emphasized that on the fourth level – that of ambiguous meanings – folkloric customs can be located anywhere on the spectrum of universalism/primordialism and can accordingly affect the extent of inclusiveness. An intriguing example is that on Israel Independence Day, for example, Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel who have adopted many of the leisure habits of their Jewish counterparts ‘celebrate’ by grilling meat outdoors (as they do on other vacation days) – but rarely reach the fourth level of discussing the meanings of this convention (Shoham, 2021a). With the ritual of the Passover Seder , usually celebrated in the home, things are simpler in Israel: non-Jews, whether citizens or temporary residents, are seldom invited to take part (and do not feel it authentic to hold one for themselves); hence the Exodus story remains in the sole possession of the core group even in its conventionalized performance that has been emptied of real meaning (Shoham 2014).…”

Section: Binary Codes Of Exclusion/inclusionmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Our (Civil) Way of Life’: The Folkloric Civil Sphere

Shoham

2022

Cultural Sociology

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Does the civil sphere consist merely of conscious and reflective subjects? Do folkloric habits, customs, and traditions contribute anything to its universalism? This article proposes the term ‘folkloric civil sphere’ to describe a non-intentional dimension of social life and of the civil sphere, composed of conventional rituals – such as those of holidays – that are followed without reflection or debate and that together form a collective ‘way of life,’ but which are nevertheless civil, in that they transcend primordial loyalties and encourage universalistic discourse. As opposed to the neo-Durkheimian focus on the meanings of delineated and emotionally moving performances, the article relies on ethnological history to develop a bottom-up model for grasping the civil meanings of conventional rituals. It suggests recreating the gradual chronological process in which conventions appear, are disseminated, turn into rituals and into group icons, and only then may acquire ambiguous meanings. Hence the meanings of folkloric customs often lie in the perceived universalism of social conventions – what ‘everyone’ does – rather than in their symbolic significance or semiotic thickness. The article proposes a shift in focus in the discussions of civil solidarity: instead of institutional, legal, and discursive processes, it centers on the slow and quiet integration of minority groups – religious and ethnic groups or undocumented immigrants – into the symbolic civil sphere, by means of cultural codes that become embedded in everyday conventions and create, bottom up, a sense of belonging to the universalist civil sphere and its distinct ‘way of life.’

show abstract

The Israel BBQ as national ritual: performing unofficial nationalism, or finding meaning in triviality

Cited by 10 publications

References 71 publications

Dynamic Ethnonationalism: The Ongoing Changes in the Ethnonational Borders—Israel in a Global Perspective

Dynamic Ethnonationalism: The Ongoing Changes in the Ethnonational Borders—Israel in a Global Perspective

Eating E.T.: Carnism and Speciesism

‘Our (Civil) Way of Life’: The Folkloric Civil Sphere

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About