[Séminaire] The Israeli national habitus through historiographic generations: the study of a controversial Identity

With Alon Helled

Discussant: Christophe Majastre (Chargé de recherches au FNRS, ULB)

The seminar analyses the development of Israel’s national identity through the world of local Jewish Zionist historiography. Inspired by Norbert Elias’ historical and figurational sociology, we will examine the different phases and generations in Israel in light of the collective habitus and the nation-state survival unit, structured around Zionism, as a non-monolithic ideology. The analysis will put in relation the intellectual profession of history-writing and the processes of state and identity building. The seminar thus processually delineates the autonomization of the historiographical field in Israel from its sociogenesis in pre-state Israel to recent decades. By combining together well-established literature on the relations between nationalism and statehood and on the particularity of the Israeli case, we will discuss the state of the art and touch issues such as the variations in inclusiveness and exclusiveness of national identification, Jewish\Israeli exceptionalism, while shedding light on continuity and change in Israeli statehood. The contextualisation of the Israeli case-study will also dwell on methodological challenges, such as subjectivity and over-politicisation in both national historiography and in its interpretation in any empirical study. By situating Israeli historians and their profession on the dynamic crossroads and intersections of academia, politics, and greater society, the seminar presents the multiple of “Israeliness » as an example of societal nationalisation.