‘Wildcats for Israel’: Reflections on Jewish Students in America

Last night I spoke at the ‘Wildcats for Israel’ event. The event consisted of an audience of Northwestern University campus activists and leaders. Most of the participants were Jewish, but certainly not limited to, sharing an interest in Israel’s well being.

The event was further distinguished by two prominent figures speakers – Illinois’ Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (Democrat) and Congressman Joe Walsh (Republican).

Both speakers discussed the American consensus on commitment to Israel and praised this bi-partisan agreement on this issue.

Jan Schakowsky spoke of her recent trip to Israel and of the importance of promoting a two-state solution to enable peace and to uphold the state of Israel’s democratic legacy and for its future, as well as the Palestinian’s well being.

Joe Walsh discussed the risks and affordances that the changes in the Middle East hold for Israel’s future. He was less optimistic on the short-term prospects for peace and emphasized Israel’s right to exist as an important premise for negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians; the Palestinian crises of leadership and the importance to fortify Israel’s security, before engaging in peace negotiations with an unstable partner.

Closing the evening, I decided to reflect on my experience of engaging Northwestern students, and the complexities of Jewish Identity today in the Diaspora, as compared with the Israeli experience. I summed my lecture in the following text. Please write if you have more to add to this topic.

‘Wildcats for Israel’: Reflections on Jewish Students in America

As a visiting scholar from Israel, I see it as part of my mission to introduce American students to the vibrant world of Israeli culture and society. However, arriving here I began to find the similarities and differences between Northwestern and Israeli students intriguing. I should add that I am less than a year at Northwestern University and have been privileged to meet with students in formal occasions in classes, but also had the opportunity to talk to students on a much more informal basis in corridors, university cafeterias or at the wonderful Hebrew table that is sponsored by the Jewish Studies Center every Wednesday on campus.

Through these conversations, I encountered firsthand issues I only read and heard about in Israel. I got acquainted with the identity dilemmas that many Jewish students face here.

Let me be more specific. In Israel, most students you meet are after their army service, which means they are a bit older and have confronted their identities partially through their military commitments to the state and its values. Furthermore, most come from Jewish families that have little connection in their daily lives to non-Jewish people. So in that sense they are not confronted with the same challenges of choosing their identities. These things are more of a given nature to them and not a source of consideration or anxiety. This is not to say that they don't have issues with identity formation – just that they are very different…

At NW I’ve met Jewish students of a different kind altogether that face other dilemmas.  These youngsters are often born to families of dual faiths. Many come from families that have divorced and remarried, leading to ‘half siblings’ that may be of a different faith or may differ in their Jewish orientation (e.g. ‘Frum’/religious, secular) and have made different decisions on the ways they would choose to celebrate their identity. Some of them may ask: how do I connect to my family’s identity (if at all), do I accomplish this through religious practices? Are there other options open for me? What kind of identity will I forge for my offspring?

The seminal question of ‘who is a Jew’ as well as how or if does one express her/his Jewishness, is as central in the lives of such American Jewish students as it is in today’s Jewish world at large. This is extremely challenging for youngsters who are more secularly inclined or from interfaith families, who may have had limited Hebrew schooling, were perhaps bat/bar mitzvahed, but after the age of 13 had few further opportunities to experience Jewish life.

From conversations, some research I have conducted on the Jewish internet, and reading the literature on these subjects I can note various ways of connection that are not religious and that occasionally converge and occasionally diverge in their ties to their Jewish legacy.  These connections seem also to typify the Jewish Wildcat youngsters, and I hope you will add to my knowledge by email or by personal conversations whenever you can.

Let me list some of these venues:

The 1^st form that I observed (that is American and non-Israeli geared) is:

1)     Participation in the Jewish Heebster community. A fluid and undefined subculture of American Jewish youth is evident and can be illustrated by two sold-out events in Chicago of the popular Maccabeets group, just a month or so ago, or hip hop reggae  experimentations of Chassidic artists such as Matisyahu playing live; the fervent dating scene on J-date, frumster and countless expressions and performances of Jewish youngsters on YouTube videos, blogs and Facebook.

2)     Connection to Jewish associations on campus, most notably that of Hillel or Chabad.

The second form (geared towards Israel) includes 3 aspects: 

1.      Political mobilization (through Aipac – America’s pro-Israel lobby, J-Street and others), or supporting pro-Israeli representatives in the local or national political arena.

2.      Direct Experience - Participation in trips to Israel. Especially notable is the famous ‘birthright’ program that enables youngsters to travel to Israel at a very low cost, facilitates students’ fun-filled activities with other youngsters while enjoying the breathtaking views and learning about the geography, history and the “Israel experience”.

3.      High Education - Through Jewish studies, and of late, ‘Israeli studies’ that has been flourishing in the US.  Let me elaborate on this.

While Jewish studies are sadly in a state of decline in Israel with less students, and fewer hires of staff members in universities, programs for Jewish studies and Israelis studies have shown particular fervor and striking growth in the past few years in Harvard, Berkley, Brandeis and many other leading universities in the US.

This academic field has become a field for Jewish students to learn as well as network among themselves, and perhaps even a nice way of meeting nice Jewish girls J – on campus. These classes are often sponsored by prominent Jewish philanthropists such as Charles Bronfman, Lynn Schusterman and the Crown family. In fact, there are now eight institutes or centers for Israel studies in North America that are separate or connected to Jewish studies and Middle Eastern studies.

I would like to suggest that these programs have a lot to offer. Just as some may find their identity through religious practice and belief, a wealth of knowledge also lies within the corridors of Jewish thought. They enable one to explore their identities through the rich experience of others that have pondered on these questions before – albeit philosophers, poets and various scholars. Studying history, sociology and literature – all have bearings to the experience of Jews and non-Jews that have faced similar situations and have struggled with the possibilities of meeting these challenges.
These lessons won't be taught on twitter J. I think that a close look at Jewish history and the revival of the state of Israel through the eyes of philosophers, authors, ethnographers and others can provide some much needed perspective for us and for our offspring.

At any rate, I must say that I am excited about meeting you wildcats and look forward to learn more about your lives, interests and concerns, to enrich my perspective about the mysteries of Jewish life around the world.  


The Daily Northwestern Just published an article on the "Wildcats for Israel Event" See http://www.dailynorthwestern.com/campus/illinois-reps-speak-at-nu-urge-support-for-israel-1.2530486

Digital Religion: Chabad Online

This isn't about youth, however I have been working on online religion for the past couple of years, with a particular emphasis on the Jewish Internet, and and thought I might share some thoughts about it with you readers.

I might disclose that I recently got a paper accepted for publication that I have collaberated upon with Dr. Heidi Campbell of Texas A&M University entitled: "Creating Digital Enclaves: Negotiation of the Internet Amongst Bounded Religious Communities" in Media Culture and Society. I'll talk about that paper another day.

Today I want to share with you the abstract of a paper I have written for a book Heidi is editing. Its' still a draft, so there may be changes, however I thought some of you might be interested. It stems from my last year of ethnographic work in New York and interviews with Jewish website operators. In this case, the Jewish-Chassidic Chabad movement that offers a rich and fervent tracts over the Internet, particularly in websites such as Chabad.org or col.org.il. The paper is entitled: Charting Frontiers of Online Religious Communities: The case of Chabad Jews. Here is its abstract, please let me know if you have any comments or ideas about it all:

Late modernity and its new media forms place the religious world at an ongoing tension to accept the Internet for advancing their community building efforts or actively avoid its adverse effects. By examining the case of Chabad Jews the study aims to show how religious communities use the Internet to invite new members and expand their influence while catering to their own communities and consolidating existent membership. A comparative examination of three key websites: chabad.org, crownheights.info and col.org.il that include net observations and interviews with 15 website operators in Israel and the US between 2009-2010 unveil a ‘division of labor’ between websites that either emphasize outward exposure towards a transnational community through Jewish education or are oriented inward and focus on communal rites (e.g. weddings, bar-mitzvahs), safety and inner doings. The community building that occurred in Chabad illuminates the ways these websites act as institutional builders that fortify solidarity and reinforce its values and religious zeal.

Why do Kids Trust each other Online?

In spite of the heat the Internet gets for its many dangers, especially for youngsters, it thrives as a space for forging friendships and establishing new forms of peer groups. So how do young people gain trust in their interlocutors?

To address this question I got two papers published this year on Trust over the Internet among cyber youth. The first is entitled: Impediments to and Affordances of Creating Trust over the Internet: The case of Israeli youth. It was published in a volume dedicated to online Trust and its abstract can be read here: http://www.igi-global.com/bookstore/Chapter.aspx?TitleId=42902

My other paper is entitled: Trust over the Net: The Case of Israeli Youth

Here is its abstract:

The Internet has been highly acclaimed for its innovation, financial and cultural benefits but a major obstacle to its expansion lies in the question of trust relations. This paper focuses on trust-building over the Internet among Israeli youth and how youth construct trust over the Internet. The study is based upon 38 in-depth interviews with adolescents ages 12-21 and an analysis of chat rooms, personal homepages, blogs and popular youth newsgroups. Findings uncover three strategies for identifying trust among youth: (1) control over anonymity; (2) “technological affordances” for maintaining trust; (3) continuity and durability of online relationships. These findings show the Internet’s potential for fostering social integration and reveal the ways youth communicate and fraternize in contemporary society.

Symbols and Language of Youth on the Internet: Rhetoric, Idioms and Iconography

I just published a new paper on the meanings of symbols and practices in use among peer groups of young Israelis on the Internet.

You can check out the abstract here : http://www.socis.tau.ac.il/en/issues.asp?issue_id=63

Oren Golan Friendship Over The Net Ph D Abstract Eng

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Oren Golan Friendship Over The Net Ph D Abstract Eng

View more documents from ongolan.

Commemoration Panel Brenda Danet

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Commemoration Panel Brenda

View more presentations from ongolan.

Brenda Danet - Commemeration Panel at AoIR 10.0

In late 2008, Professor Brenda Danet, a dear woman and brilliant Professor that I had been privileged of studying from - passed away. Brenda was born in the US, made aliya and joined the Dept. of Sociology and Social Anthropology at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and was of the founding pioneers of the Dept. of Communications at the Hebrew University. In her later years, Brenda got married to Professor Walter Kahn and was affiliated with the Dept. of Anthropology at Yale University. More fascinating information on Brenda Danet can be viewed at her spectacular website http://pluto.huji.ac.il/~msdanet/

Two commemorative events were erected in her honor by both the department of Sociology and Social Anthropology and the Department of Communication at Hebrew University. The first took place in late December 2008 at Beit Meirsdorf in Jerusalem and was moving and enriching. However, I would like to dedicate this post to the commemorative panel that took place at the association of internet researchers (AoIR 10.0) that took place in Milwaukee on October 2009. After I posted a CFP for a commemerative panel with an emphasis on ONLINE LANUGUAGE, PLAY AND PERFORMANCE (a topic that Brenda made a significant contribution to) in early 2009, a panel of four scholars was erected. Lori Kendall, a highly accredited ethnographer of cybersociety; Susan C. Herring, a top socio-linguist and dear friend of Brenda gave a joint talk with her student Asta Zelenkauskaite; Carmel Vaisman, Brenda's last doctoral student and myself presented. I am enclosing links to view four items:

1. Pictures from the commemorative event in Jerusalem and Milwaukee. http://picasaweb.google.com/ongolan/CommemorationEventInHonorOfProfessorBrendaDanet#

2. Carmel Vaisman's presentation at the event can be viewed at:

http://www.vimeo.com/7005620

3. My presentation's slides can be viewed above and correspond to the following presentation text.

4. The abstract of Susan C. Herring and Asta Zelenkauskaite's paper can be read here: http://slis.iu.edu/news/story.php?story_id=2031

Finally, I am enclosing my presentation. I hope this evokes interest in readers of this blog to further research Danet's fascinating work and contribution.

--------------------------

Brenda Danet – Panel

Milwaukee 2009

Slides available for download at:

http://rapidshare.com/files/311273647/commemoration_panel_-_Brenda.ppt

[Opening slide] Welcome everybody. This panel is dedicated to the memory of a pioneer of the cultural introspection of Internet studies. The late Professor Brenda Danet.

My name is Oren Golan and I am a former student of Professor Danet. Today I wish to sketch something of Brenda's sociological imagination and invite our panel to rethink Danet's work and legacy in light of their own work and fields of interest.

Brenda was a central figure in the Association of Internet researchers. She was of its original founders participated in its gatherings at aoir [show slide] and I believe took part on its boards. I am sure some of you may know much more than I do about her participation but I can say that she was here from the very first conference in Lawrence Kansas (2000) and maintained an extensive commitment to the society’s mission and functions.

She was part of the AoIR's working group that dealt with questions of ethical research on CMC [show slide], an important document that till today resonates as a leading source of reference and guidance. Brenda was also of the founders of the first online scientific journal dedicated to this line of research – namely that of “the Journal of computer mediated communication” (JCMC).

Beyond her affiliations, Brenda was a pioneer in uncovering the worlds of chat and social interaction over the Internet. However her studies predated the birth of the web. In her past, prior to her preoccupation with the Internet, she had been interested in various sociological fields including studies on the encounter of bureaucracy by immigrants culminating in a book she wrote with Elihu Katz. She looked at patterns of culturally stemmed corruption that include bribery, embezzlement and nepotism that are expressed in her 1989 book "Pulling Strings" (show slide). And was deeply invested in studies of material culture, language and the law.

To slightly digress, I would like to add that it should be noted that she was instrumental in developing media and communication studies In Israel at a time when it scarcely existed within Israeli academia.

In her classes, that I had the good fortune to participate in, she told us that she was attracted to studying the Internet after doing a study of Medieval wills of 805-1066 ad. In these wills she uncovered points of transformation from oral to written culture. Her focus on a charismatic point of history, where a significant change occurred, motivated her to look upon contemporary culture with a similar outlook. Brenda felt that we are in fact at a critical point of history, just a generation before what is now deemed as "digital natives". In this sense we can see how Brenda's imagination stemmed from her appreciation of the Internet as a link in a historical change. A cultural shift between different orientations. This gaze recurs in her later work as well, rather then simply comparing the Internet to face to face and offline modes of behavior.

Brenda was one of the first scholars that shed light on the expressive side of the Internet. Rather then portraying the Internet world as that of a heightened form of technology, Danet viewed the culture of its participants as that of a new cultural frontier. She saw it as a plane of human interaction where new forms of verbal and visual acts of play are introduced. She focuses on these acts of play and playfulness as an informal culture that enables participants to perform their expressive behavior with few social sanctions and functioning as a social stage in Goffman's terms and a heightened awareness of the act of expression in the terms of Richard Bauman, a well known folklorist and student of the ethnography of communication she used to quote. In fact, the topic of todays' discussion is borrowed from an issue she edited in the Journal of computer-mediated-communication in 1995 [show slide]

Danet's gaze was pointed at the grassroot and folk constructions of the Internet by surfers, rather then by web designers, companies or states. She was fascinated with the cultural production of hackers and the playful virtuosity that accompanied the web in its pre-social network stages. A world where Emails, Chatting, websites, bulletin boards and Instant messaging were the primary tools.

As early as 1991, a time when Internet's cultural studies were still in its initial stages, Danet discussed the @ sign, spoke of flame wars, discussed experimental theatrical attempts that were taking place among surfers.

Brenda documented these virtual planes that from todays' perspective, a mere decade later, and in light of new technologies as well as social commercialization, institutionalization and popularization of the Internet, can seem like a ‘time capsule’ that skillfully reproduces a lost era on the one hand, yet is still relevant for understanding current developments and for offering tools for its exploration.

In this issue, and in her own studies, Brenda explores the poetics of the much overlooked issues that inhabit Internet and computer culture. She culminated her 1990's research in a 2001 book named "Cyberplay" [show slide] that summates her theoretical approach with an ethnographic gaze on 5 Case studies of IRC groups that focused on Internet art (colors and rainbow) and their cultures of exchange, as well as studies on the changing language of correspondence that email has introduced

In these instances, Brenda demonstrated case studies in creativity on the Internet, from playing with a host of different fonts to the group rewriting and performance (in cyber language) of Shakespeare's Hamlet. Danet drew some intriguing connections between creativity and play on the Internet and traditional art forms. For instance, she equates IRC (internet relay chat), often expressed in intricate visual patterns, to quilting [show 2 slides] : "I believe that cultivation of certain aspects of the form and content of images was in itself a source of great pleasure for the players. . . . This is no different from individuals engaged in needlepoint or quilting, who take pleasure in seeing the design emerge and in completing it" (pp. 257-8). We can observe this comparison by these slides that appear in her book and on her website.

However, the point she is making is not merely about the aesthetics of the two works of folk art , but of the activity itself and the communal sense it generates, particularly in cyberspace.

Brenda’s focus on online culture had a great deal of emphasis on the aesthetic and semiotic aspects of virtuality, but her contributions can be seen at least in two other aspects:

1. She developed tools for online research in a field that didn’t really have any at the time. For this endeavor, she borrowed concepts from the study of linguistics, literary criticism, the history of art and the field of anthropology to construct understanding on the communities and virtual artifacts that were produced. A broad and interdisciplinary approach that can inspire future students in the field.

2. Brenda acted an archeologist of online art and form uncovering the poetics of style and form of surfers' expression while highlighting the pramgmatic functions of online production as a form of playful communication.

Since Cyberplay, in the new millennia, Brenda focused on the local or glocal advance of the Internet to indigenous and non-English speaking populations. This culminated in a grand two stage project with Susan Herring, who is with us today and included an edited publication in the JCMC (2003) and in a book published two years ago (2007) by the Oxford university Press. Perhaps Suzan can comment on this project later on if time allows.

[To turn to our presenters] Today we have presenters that will discuss Brenda's work in line with their own., Lori Kendall who's ethnographic gaze will demonstrate theoretical aspects of play and work online; And two empirical studies that demonstrate Danet's approach - Susan C. Herring and Asta Zelenkauskaite analyzes gender variation in nonstandard typography —in mobile phone text messages (SMS) and Carmel Vaisman, who was brenda's last doctoral student will discuss Israeli teenage girls's blogs as sites of online performance.