Tough times : a perspective on some Israeli experiences of political violence

Abstract

This project aims to provide a perspective on some Jewish Israeli experiences of political violence.

The main purpose of this study is to provide a grounded and concrete ethnographic account of everyday life in a situation where experiences of terror, fear, and expectations of violence are prominent. It probes this particular context and its ramifications as a social phenomenon.

I argue that terror can be located in the details of everyday life and that it manifests itself in relationships, interaction, and processes of classification.

The thesis explores violence as a highly physical and emotional phenomenon but also as a mental notion; as a violation of categories. It is ethnography of theme and process and relates to several arenas or locations. The first part is concerned with public transport, the next describes daily life in two distinct neighbourhoods and the last part; the actual sites where violence is enacted.

The study approaches the experiences of violence by conceptualising circles of vulnerability which grade the degree of exposure in terms of geographical, temporal and social proximity. The first part chiefly addresses the experiences of those that have been subjected to secondary exposure, whereas the last part is devoted to those that have been directly involved; the bereaved, the survivors and the first responders.