This article uses case studies of the 6th-century BCE return of the Babylonian exiles to Judea and of the 19th century elaboration by Theodor Herzl of the project of Zionism as means of examining the wider issue of the relation of identity to the experience of exile. It argues that persons and communities which perceive themselves as displaced construct their `authentic' identities in terms not of some sort of originary culture but with defensive reference to experiences in exile which they consider antagonistic. `Identity' is a mobilization of some elements of a cultural repertoire against a threatening other and that antagonism — although nominally to be purged when the full identity it impedes is realized — remains fundamental to identity. As a result, I contend, exiles who return to their `homelands' must, if they are to there find the identities the idea of return promises, `discover' suitable surrogates for the antagonists they have left behind.
Ahlstrom, G. (1993) The History of Ancient Palestine from the Paleolithic Period to Alexander's Conquest (Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, Supplement 146). Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press.
2.
Alcalay, A. (1993) After Jews and Arabs: Remaking Levantine Culture . Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
3.
Alt, A. (1966) Old Testament History and Religion (trans. R.A. Wilson). New York: Anchor Books .
4.
Althusser, L. (1971) `Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses (Notes Towards an Investigation)', in Louis Althusser Lenin and Philosophy and Other Essays (trans. B. Brewster) . London: Verso.
5.
Barstad, H.M. (1996) The Myth of the Empty Land: A Study in the History and Archaeology of Judah in the `Exilic' Period (Symbolae Osloenses Fascimile Supplement 28). Oslo: Scandinavian University Press.
6.
Bourdieu, P. (1990) The Logic of Practice (trans. R. Nice). London: Polity Press.
7.
Bowman, G. (1993) `Nationalizing the Sacred: Shrines and Shifting Identities in the Israeli-Occupied Territories', Man: The Journal of the Royal Anthropological InstituteXXVIII(3): 431-60.
8.
Bowman, G. (1994) ` "A Country of Words": Conceiving the Palestinian Nation from the Position of Exile', in E. Laclau (ed.) The Making of Political Identities. London: Verso.
9.
Brettler, M. (1999) `The New Biblical Historiography', in V. Philips Long (ed.) Israel's Past in Present Research: Essays on Ancient Israelite Historiography (Sources for Biblical and Theological Study). Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns.
10.
Cohn, N. (1993) Cosmos, Chaos and the World to Come: The Ancient Roots of Apocalyptic Faith. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
11.
Davies, P. (1992) In Search of `Ancient Israel' (Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, Supplement Series 148). Sheffield : JSOT Press.
12.
Davies, P. (1999) ` "Ancient Israel" and History: A Response to Norman Whybray', in V. Philips Long (ed.) Israel's Past in Present Research: Essays on Ancient Israelite Historiography (Sources for Biblical and Theological Study). Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns.
13.
Durkheim, E. and M. Mauss (1963) Primitive Classification (trans. R. Needham). London: Cohen and West.
14.
Garbini, G. (1988) History and Ideology in Ancient Israel. London: SCM Press.
15.
Giladi, G. (1990) Discord in Zion: Conflict Between Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews in Israel (trans. R. Harris). London: Scorpion.
16.
Gilman, S. (1993) Freud, Race and Gender. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
17.
Golden, D. (1996) `The Museum of the Jewish Diaspora Tells a Story' , in T. Selwyn (ed.) The Tourist Image: Myths and Myth Making in Tourism. New York and London: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
18.
Herzl, T. (1993) The Jewish State: An Attempt at a Modern Solution of the Jewish Question. Seventh edition (trans. Sylvie D'Avigdor). London: Henry Pordes.
19.
Kornberg, J. (1993) Theodor Herzl: From Assimilation to Zionism (Jewish Literature and Culture). Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
20.
Kuhrt, A. (1995) The Ancient Near East c. 3000-330 BC. Vol. II (Routledge History of the Ancient World). London: Routledge.
21.
Laclau, E. and C. Mouffe (1985) Hegemony and Socialist Strategy: Towards a Radical Democratic Politics (trans. W. Moore and P. Cammack). London: Verso.
22.
Lang, B. (1983) Monotheism and the Prophetic Minority: An Essay in Biblical History and Sociology (The Social World of Biblical Antiquity) . Sheffield: The Almond Press.
23.
Laqueur, W. (1972) A History of Zionism. London : Weidenfeld & Nicolson.
24.
Lemche, N. (1988) Ancient Israel: A New History of Israelite Society (trans. F. Cryer). Sheffield: JSOT Press.
25.
Lemche, N. (1991) The Canaanites and their Land: The Tradition of the Canaanites (Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, Supplement Series 110). Sheffield: JSOT Press.
26.
Lemche, N. (1999) `Is It Still Possible to Write a History of Ancient Israel?', in V. Philips Long (ed.) Israel's Past in Present Research: Essays on Ancient Israelite Historiography (Sources for Biblical and Theological Study). Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns.
27.
Malkki, L. (1995) Purity and Exile: Violence, Memory and National Cosmology among Hutu Refugees in Tanzania. Chicago, IL : University of Chicago Press.
28.
Miller, M. and J. Hayes , eds (1977) Israelite and Judean History (Old Testament Library). London: SCM Press.
29.
Miller, M. and J. Hayes (1986) A History of Ancient Israel and Judah. London: SCM Press.
30.
Newsome, J. Jr (1979) By the Waters of Babylon: An Introduction to the History and Theology of the Exile . Edinburgh: T & T Clark.
31.
Nietzsche, F. (1982) Daybreak: Thoughts on the Prejudices of Morality (trans. R.J. Hollingdale. Texts in German Philosophy). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
32.
Oded, B. (1977) `Judah and the Exile', in J. Hayes and J. Maxwell Miller (eds) Israelite and Judaean History. London: SCM Press.
33.
Oded, B. (1979) Mass Deportations and Deportees in the Neo-Assyrian Empire. Wiesbaden: Ludwig Reichert Verlag.
34.
Patai, R., ed. (1960) The Complete Diaries of Theodor Herzl. New York: Herzl Press and Thomas Yoseloff.
35.
Pawel, E. (1989) The Labyrinth of Exile: A Life of Theodor Herzl . New York: Farrar, Strauss and Giroux.
36.
Rothschild, J., ed. (1984) Forbidden Agendas: Intolerance and Defiance in the Middle East (Khamsin: An Anthology) . London: Al Saqi Books.
37.
Soggin, J.A. (1976) Introduction to the Old Testament: From its Origins to the Closing of the Alexandrian Canon (trans. J. Bowden). London: SCM Press.
38.
Swirski, S. (1989) Israel: The Oriental Majority (trans. B. Swirski) . London: Zed Books.
39.
Thompson, T. (1992) Early History of the Israelite People from Written and Archaeological Sources (Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, Supplement Series 55). Sheffield: JSOT Press.
40.
Whybray, N. (1999) `What Do We Know About Ancient Israel?', in V. Philips Long (ed.) Israel's Past in Present Research: Essays on Ancient Israelite Historiography (Sources for Biblical and Theological Study). Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns.
41.
Zimmerman, A. (2001) Anthropology and Antihumanism in Imperial Germany . Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
