The imperial patriarchal discourse:: British Jewish culture, identity and the Palestine Mandate

Abstract

This thesis explores the interplay between British Jewish culture and identity in relation to contemporary perceptions and collective memories of the Palestine Mandate. It begins with a historical examination of the British Jewish press, Mass Observers, and communal and personal correspondence regarding British Jews and the Palestine Mandate from 1944 to 1948. The thesis then devotes a chapter each to discussion of three modern British Jewish texts that provide insight into communal and personal responses to both the end of the Palestine Mandate and the subsequent establishment of the state of Israel: Linda Grant’s When I Lived in Modern Times; Peter Kosminsky’s The Promise; and Howard Jacobson’s The Finkler Question. Throughout all four chapters, issues of age, gender, and the use of specific terminology along with features of recent British Jewish history, such as Zionism, the Holocaust and the Second World War, will be fully explored. The unique socio-political orientation of Grant, Kosminsky and Jacobson as British Jews will be examined, with the differences and similarities noted accordingly.

The subsequent findings of this analysis argue that each of the three texts discussed employ an overarching framework, the imperial patriarchal discourse, in which retrospective perceptions of the Palestine Mandate exist. Furthermore, the origins of this narrative can be evidenced in the historical study of press, communal and individual responses to the Palestine Mandate and British Jews between 1944 and 1948, suggesting the modification of an already existing pattern of understandings among British Jews. This framework is adaptable in nature and inclusive in scope. The use of the imperial patriarchal discourse thus demonstrates that British Jews formed their response to the Palestine Mandate, Zionism and Israel from within the specific socio-cultural milieu in which they operated – and continue to do so.

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