The ambivalence over the Levantinization of Israel: “David Levi” jokes

The present article focuses on David Levi jokes—an Israeli joke cycle—as a catalyzing agent in the evolution of Israeli identity. Although the manifest referent in the jokes is a concrete political and ethnic figure, the article argues that the actual referent is the whole of Israeli society. The cu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Humor (Berlin, Germany) Germany), 2007-01, Vol.20 (4), p.415-442
Main Author: Salamon, Hagar
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Communication research
Cultural studies
David Levi jokes
ethnic humor
Ethnicity
Folk culture
Humour
Israel
Israeli folklore
Jokes
meta-linguistic jokes
national identity
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Summary:The present article focuses on David Levi jokes—an Israeli joke cycle—as a catalyzing agent in the evolution of Israeli identity. Although the manifest referent in the jokes is a concrete political and ethnic figure, the article argues that the actual referent is the whole of Israeli society. The cumulative effect of composing, hearing, recalling and especially repeating these elements, all in a spirit of self-mockery, enables mediation of national ambivalences and vulnerabilities. Through these jokes, an Israeli Levantine identity is internalized as teller and listener “try on” aspects of the Levantine national self through imagery, language, and gesticulation. Characteristic of these jokes are riddles conveyed through a meta-linguistic device. The joke-telling event is thus in effect a mimetic model of the interaction between the linguistic and the social, which enacts certain relationships pertaining to belonging and identity; as such, it is a unique prism for exploring the cultural matrix within which the construction of identity is carried out.
ISSN:0933-1719
1613-3722
DOI:10.1515/HUMOR.2007.020