Wall and Tower

Notes on Tactics and Tactical Experiments in Israeli Culture and Politics

Abstract

This article focuses on three artistic and activist practices in Israel in which notions of home and land are central concepts and working materials. It inhabits the symbolic field of re-constructing collective identities in relation to nationalism and its historical and biblical connections. It is about using language as a way to affix narratives until they seem as unmovable as facts or inherent beliefs. It is also about the use of language to challenge and reshape these fixed perceptions. It first presents case studies to discuss the nature of the tactics. Second, it offers a description of the context to which the case studies respond. My theoretical framework is derived from social and political sciences. It is also connected to Jewish literature and practices referencing characteristic of tactics. The last section is an analysis of the ways in which the case studies provides an alternative observation on the Israeli-Palestinian space.