Tel Aviv as a space of affirmation versus transformation. Language, citizenship, and the politics of sexuality in Israel

Milani, Tommaso M.; Levon, Erez; Gafter, Roey J.; Or, Iair G. (2018). Tel Aviv as a space of affirmation versus transformation. Language, citizenship, and the politics of sexuality in Israel. Linguistic landscape, 4(3), pp. 278-297. Benjamins 10.1075/ll.18006.mil

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The main argument of this article is that Israel seeks to govern its expat citizens not so
much through the mobilisation of their ‘rational capacities to evaluate truth claims but
through affects’ (Isin, 2004:225). Such viscerality of Israeli nationalism can be seen in the
ways in which specific emotions – mourning, shame, guilt and fear of loss – are activated
through particular semiotic choices. These affective resources, in turn, are marshalled
together in order to create a sense of nostalgia, a desire to return ‘home’, which is deeply
imbricated with processes of territorialisation of Israel as the Jewish homeland par
excellence, and consequently engenders a problematic regime of identities – Israeli Jewish
versus Diasporic Jewish. By exploring an example of how national (be)longing is activated
through the circulation of emotions across texts and spaces, the article not only seeks to
contribute to current discussions about affect in linguistic landscape scholarship, but also
offers a fresh perspective on critical sociolinguistic work on nationalism.

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