Ethos and logos in Israeli citizenship: Discourse analysis of civic studies textbooks

                                                                       Abstract

This study examines the notion of citizenship as a form of political identity in a multi-national and multi-ethnic state such as Israel. In an effort to understand the strategies by which citizenship of Palestinians and Jews in Israel is defined, this research analyzes civic studies textbooks currently used in Israeli public schools. The study analyzes the strategies by which the conflict between citizenship and nationality is bridged, and the arguments the textbooks use to justify the continued exclusion of the Palestinian minority from the social, economic, political, and civil society in Israel. It focuses on the analysis of the ethos of citizenship and the internal logos that sustain it as a coherent discourse in civic studies textbooks, making it appear sustainable and legitimate in the eyes of Jewish majority students.

Theoretically, the study examines the conflict arising from certain ways of conceptualizations of nationhood and citizenship. It reexamines ethnic groups’ right to self-determination against individual rights based on universal principles. This case adds to the understanding of the complex relationship between the particularistic and the universal forms of political identity, nationalism and citizenship.