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For many years, historians have not given due attention to the relations between the Nordic countries and Israel. As a consequence, the existing body of research on this topic is almost entirely conducted by scholars from the social sciences, especially international relations and conflict resolution studies, a fact that has led to an overemphasis on their occasional interstate political disputes. This book offers a fresh and exciting historical analysis of their relations during the three decades following Israel's establishment in 1948, focusing on their connection points and mutual influences in various fields. Furthermore, it is mapping Israel geographically according to the traces of diverse Nordic-Israeli initiatives throughout the years.
In recent years, scholarship on Nordic studies has yielded new research areas regarding the influence of these countries on other parts of the world, and vice versa. Nordic policies, attitudes and experience have been analyzed in the framework of knowledge circulation, and this in turn sparked a renewed scholarly interest in the Nordic model(s). The book fits into this stream of research by arguing that close historical investigation helps to construct, and sometimes also deconstruct, the fluid definition of the Nordic model(s). By focusing on the intersection between Israel studies and Nordic studies, it provides insights into the complex, yet fascinating relations that developed between these countries since the mid twentieth-century.
List of contents
Introduction.- 1. The Rescue of Danish Jewry in Israeli Cultural Memory.- 2. Ben-Gurion, the Nordic Countries and the Neutral Bloc.- 3. Nordic Wooden Huts in Early Israeli Public Housing.- 4. Swedish-Israeli Collaboration on Development Aid to Africa.- 5. Grundtvig, Buber and Israeli Adult Education.- 6. Conclusion.
About the author
Orna Keren-Carmel is adjunct lecturer at the European Forum of the Hebrew University, Israel. Her historical research focuses on Nordic-Israeli relations.
