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Under the cover of the kippah : on Jewish settlers, performance, and belonging in Israel/Palestine
Author(s) -
Harel Assaf
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of the royal anthropological institute
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.62
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1467-9655
pISSN - 1359-0987
DOI - 10.1111/1467-9655.13130
Subject(s) - judaism , palestine , identity (music) , performativity , politics , colonialism , reflexivity , sociology , gender studies , jewish identity , ethnology , history , anthropology , political science , aesthetics , ancient history , archaeology , law , art
What can a kippah – the Jewish head cover – reveal about settlers’ politics of belonging in the Israeli‐Palestinian space? During fieldwork among settlers and Palestinians in the West Bank, I selectively put on and took off the kippah , using it to control social identity and interactions, sometimes successfully, sometimes not. This article interrogates my use of the kippah as a reflexive means of highlighting its powerful meanings and effects within the Israeli‐Palestinian space. In showing how the wearing and removal of the kippah bears upon the social construction of Jewish identity, this article offers new insights into the sociopolitical significance of sartorial practices in Israel/Palestine. These insights contribute more broadly to debates at the intersection of studies of settler colonialism, material culture, identity, and performativity.