Israel in the Making ─ Stickers, Stitches, and Other Critical Practices

The kaleidoscope of everyday creativity in Israel is brilliantly 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 first examines creativity in Israel’s public sphere through the lively discourse of bumper stickers, which have become a potent medium for identity and commentary on national and religious issues. She next turns to the more private expressive sphere of women’s embroidery, profiling a group of Jerusalem women who meet regularly and create "folk embroidery." In the final section, Salamon 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.

Hagar Salamon is Max and Margarethe Grunwald Chair in Folklore at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She is also Head of the Graduate Program for Folklore and Folk Culture Studies and a Research Fellow at the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace.Her longstanding interest in the cultural modes and practices in which issues of identity are negotiated and re-negotiated has inspired a wide range of studies pertaining to Ethiopian Jews, women's folk creativity and present day Israeli folklore in both public and private spheres.