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Paper short abstract

A song of exile in the Promised Land? Political Art by Young Mizrahi (oriental Jews) artists in Israel: Identity making, narratives of loss and desire of return. Artistic creation as the imagined/symbolic homeland of origin and the nostalgic projection of an idealized place.

Paper long abstract

Nowadays in Israel, young artists from the third generation of Mizrahim are leading a counterculture movement. They re/learned to sing in Darija-Moroccan, write bilingual poetry in Arabic and Hebrew and reinterpret traditional Yemeni dances. They often define themselves as "Arab Jews" and have decided to resolutely re-appropriate the culture and history of their ancestors, which had long been silenced. Through their art, they claim their place in the Middle East, and attempt to reconnect with their country of origin. The collective identities that emerge from these different Mizrahi arts are deeply rooted in nostalgia for a forgotten past and in a strong desire of returning « home ». But where/what is home when you live in the Promised Land and you're longing for a lost Jewish heritage from the Muslim world?