Israel in the Making Stickers, Stitches, and Other Critical Practices [Hardcover]

The brilliant kaleidoscope of everyday creativity in Israel is thrown into relief in this study, which teases out the abiding national tensions and contradictions at work in the expressive acts of ordinary people. Hagar Salamon examines creativity in Israels public sphere through the lively discourse of bumper stickers, which have become a potent medium for identity and commentary on national and religious issues. Exploring the more private expressive sphere of womens embroidery, she profiles a group of Jerusalem women who meet regularly and create folk embroidery. Salamon also considers the significance of folk expressions at the intersections of the public and private that rework change and embrace transformation. Far ranging and insightful, Israel in the Making captures the complex creative essence of a nation state and vividly demonstrates how its citizens go about defining themselves, others, and their country every day.

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 Makingis a multi-layered contribution to many adjacent fields.

Acknowledgments
Introduction: Studying Israeli Folklore

Part One: Folklore in the Israeli Public Arena
Part One Invitation: Bumper Stickers as a Podium in Motion
1. Folklore as an Emotional Battleground: Political Bumper Stickers
2. We the people : HaAm in the Turbulent Sphere of Israeli Roads
3. Kinetic Cosmologies: Sovereign and Sovereignty
Part One Recapitulation: Public Interaction on the Move

Part Two: Expressions in the Intimate Arena of Embroidery
Part Two Invitation: Embroidering Identity--Needlework and Needle-Talk
4. Embroidering Their Selves: Femininity and Embroidery in a Jerusalem Womens Group
5. Life Story as a Foundation Legend of Local Identity
6. The Intimate Career of a Transitional Object: Needlepoint Embroideries