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

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

Concerned with how nationalist cultural codes are embedded in everyday life, studies of “nationalism-from-below” mistake nationalist meanings for the contents of official messages. Rather than studying the reception of spectacles and symbols produced from above, the article suggests looking at unofficial nationalism and focusing on the nationalist meanings of traditions and customs—especially those related to ritual and food—that are common to broad strata of the population but have almost no state involvement. Using the anthropological history of Israeli Independence Day as an exemplary case, and focusing on how people spend their country’s national day, the article examines the failure of official nationalism to design the holiday’s popular traditions. Next it surveys the development of what has become the popular mode of celebrating the day—the picnic and cookout. In due course, this practice was ritualized and iconized as representing “Israeliness,” an identity that is more ambivalent than the seamless images circulated from above. I argue that the meanings of unofficial practices, because of their triviality, lie not in the symbolic codes they enact, but rather in the synchronicity that ritualizes and iconizes a “way of life,” forms national solidarity, and imbues the performance with nationalist meanings.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)13-42
Number of pages30
JournalAmerican Journal of Cultural Sociology
Volume9
Issue number1
Early online date2019
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 2021

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019, Springer Nature Limited.

Keywords

  • Holidays
  • National days
  • Nationalism
  • Social performance
  • Solidarity

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'The Israel BBQ as national ritual: performing unofficial nationalism, or finding meaning in triviality'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this