History 497MC - ST-CollctveMemory&Myths/Israel

This class examines key issues in the society in Israel by inspecting the way in which the past is remembered and commemorated. Collective memory - the ways in which a society uses and talks about the past - always reflects the needs and developments of that society in the present. In Israel, collective memory plays a leading role in the construction of national and group identities. This class will include an in-depth introduction to theories in collective memory as well as an examination of the ways in which these theories are exemplified in the Israeli case study. What is the role of memory of the Holocaust in the school curriculum? Why is Yitzhak Rabin so strongly commemorated in Tel Aviv, and so forgotten in Jerusalem? What are the differences and similarities between Israeli and Palestinian commemoration of the 1948 war? How did historical religious sites in Jerusalem develop into tourist attractions? And what is the role of archaeology in the shaping of ideology? We will read freshly published studies on Israeli memory and address these issues also through films and literature, where we will visit the living side of memory and experience the way the past is taking shape in the present today.