Abstract
This chapter is based on three different qualitative studies on the Ethiopian Jewish community in Israel and their shared findings regarding issues of identity, transition, risk and resilience. We start with discussing the complex, dynamic process of identity formation among Israelis of Ethiopian origin, forged out of life circumstances and the social-cultural-political environment in which they live—their “here and now” reality. We begin with a brief background on the Ethiopian Jewish community in Israel, followed by an explanation of our studies. We then proceed to discuss culture and identity in immigration, the viability of a hybrid or bicultural identity and ambivalent identities, illustrated by the example of the immigrant’s journey to Israel via Sudan as a formative experience. We then continue by pointing to identity and immigration as factors in risk or resilience, following immigration and the issue of skin color. Lastly, we discuss differences between first, second and one-and-a-half generation immigrants, and the consequences of public policy and the “risk industry” on the immigrants’ experiences.
Michal Gatenio Kalush completed her Post-Doctoral Fellowship at MOFET Institute. Naomi Shmuel is an author, illustrator and anthropologist. She teaches at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, specializing in families in transition and training professionals for working in culturally diverse environments.
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Notes
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For a detailed discussion on these changes see Shmuel (2017).
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Only recently is there more awareness of this issue; since 2003 the Knesset annually marks a remembrance day for the Ethiopian Jews who died in the Sudan. This combined with public recognition of the contribution of Ethiopian community leaders to the success of Operation Moses is a positive contribution to their sense of belonging.
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Ben-Eliezer (2004) also discusses this.
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Gatenio-Kalush, M., Engdau-Vanda, S., Shmuel, N. (2020). Risk Complexity—Culture and Identity in Migration: The Case of Ethiopian Jews. In: Roer-Strier, D., Nadan, Y. (eds) Context-Informed Perspectives of Child Risk and Protection in Israel. Child Maltreatment, vol 10. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44278-1_4
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