Paper short abstract:

In this paper I wish to focus on the gendered textual representations of memory, identity, and place in two life stories of daughters of families that immigrated to Israel in its first years. I will show and analyze the differences in the way they use strategies of self- and place-making.

Paper long abstract:

In this paper I wish to focus on the gendered textual representations of memory, identity, and place in two life stories of daughters to families that immigrated to Israel from Iraq and Romania in the late 1940s' and early 1950s'. These women, that grew up in the first decade of the State of Israel in the city of Beer-Sheva, the capital of the south, can be considered as a “cohort regional generation” in terms of their life histories. Yet, a sensitive reading of their narratives shows that, despite obvious similarities, there are fundamental differences in the way the narrators use family folklore and childhood memories, and in the way they construct their autobiographical "selves". In my paper I will present some of their strategies of self- and place-making from a biographical perspective that pays attention to their life cycle, as well as to historical conditions. I will show that they are using parts of the city they consider as 'sites of memories' in accordance with the organizing principle of their life stories.