How does a society cope with the challenge of acknowledging and commemorating difficult aspects of its past? In Yitzhak Rabin's Assassination and the Dilemmas of Commemoration, Vered Vinitzky-Seroussi develops a timely sociology of commemoration, drawing on the public memory of Israel's Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was assassinated at the end of a peace rally in Tel Aviv in 1995. She identifies and analyzes the building blocks from which commemoration is made: agency, space, time, and narrative. Acting as a guide, she leads the reader through monuments and gravestones, memorial services and political demonstrations, rituals both moving and banal, and individuals determined to remember, as well as those who wish to forget. Yitzhak Rabin's Assassination and the Dilemmas of Commemoration examines the meanings, boundaries, opportunities, and limits of commemoration, a phenomenon not unique to Israel but shared by many nations across the globe. List of Illustrations Acknowledgments
1. Introduction
2. Agents of Memory: Voice and Exit
3. Times to Remember
4. Spaces to Remember
5. Escorting the Mnemonic Narrative
6. Forced to Remember
7. Concluding Remarks: Commemoration, Fragmentation, Israeli Society and Beyond
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Yitzhak Rabin’s Assassination and the Dilemmas of Commemoration
Vered VinitzkySeroussi
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Yitzhak Rabin’s Assassination and the Dilemmas of Commemoration
SUNY series, Anthropology and Judaic Studies —————— Walter P. Zenner, editor
Yitzhak Rabin’s Assassination and the Dilemmas of Commemoration
VERED VINITZKYSEROUSSI
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.
For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY www.sunypress.edu
Production by Eileen Meehan Marketing by Michael Campochiaro Cover image: Miri Divish Back cover images courtesy of Yamiv Yur and the author.
Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data
VinitzkySeroussi, Vered. Yitzhak Rabin’s assassination and the dilemmas of commemoration / Vered VinitzkySeroussi. p. cm. — (SUNY series in anthropology and Judaic studies) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 9781438428314 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Rabin, Yitzhak, 1922–1995—Assassination. 2. Rabin, Yitzhak, 1922–1995— Assassination—Public opinion. 3. Public opinion—Israel. 4. Memorialization— Israel. 5. Memory—Social aspects—Israel. I. Title.
DS126.6.R32V56 2009 956.9405'4092—dc22
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
2008054535
For Ofri
vi
Acknowledgments
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List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1: Introduction
Acknowledgments
Contents
Chapter 2: Agents of Memory: Voice and Exit
Chapter 3: Times to Remember
Chapter 4: Spaces to Remember
Chapter 5: Escorting the Mnemonic Narrative
Chapter 6: Forced to Remember
Chapter 7: Concluding Remarks: Commemoration, Fragmentation, Israeli Society and Beyond