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Kibbutz Women: Conflict in Utopia

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Caught up in Conflict

Part of the book series: Women in Society ((WOSO))

Abstract

Since their foundation, the Israeli kibbutzim have been involved in a series of wars, obvious and direct manifestations of political conflict. Unless their communities were in border areas, and therefore vulnerable to direct attack, kibbutz women have for the most part experienced these wars second-hand, either seeing their male relatives and friends going off to fight, or, if they were doing army service themselves, working behind the front line, supporting the troops. Yet their lives have been directly conditioned by conflict, not only that in the Middle Eastern context, but also within Israeli society itself. At the same time, they have been involved in their own struggle for emancipation within the kibbutz movement, a struggle which, many argue, they have lost.

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Authors
  1. Alison M. Bowes
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Wolfson College, Oxford, UK

    Rosemary Ridd (Social anthropologist and member) (Social anthropologist and member)

  2. Cross-Cultural Research on Women, Queen Elizabeth House, Oxford, UK

    Helen Callaway (Deputy Director) (Deputy Director)

Copyright information

© 1986 Alison M. Bowes

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Bowes, A.M. (1986). Kibbutz Women: Conflict in Utopia. In: Ridd, R., Callaway, H. (eds) Caught up in Conflict. Women in Society. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-18380-7_7

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