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Mediterranean Modernism pp 283–315Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Gender Dystopia on the Kibbutz: From Plato to Marx

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Part of the book series: Mediterranean Perspectives ((MEPERS))

Abstract

The present investigation of gender dystopia in the traditional kibbutz draws from the available socio-political and philosophical scholarship, journalistic accounts of kibbutz events, and these novels. This is an attempt to fairly illustrate the intellectual ambitions and achievements of the Israeli kibbutz without ignoring its ultimate failure to bring about gender equity. In support of this take on gender hierarchy, Meir Shalev’s The Blue Mountain (2001) and Batya Gur’s police detective novel Murder on a Kibbutz: A Communal Case (1994) reflect a lost world—founded, like Plato’s Republic, on a myth of innocence—in which a seedier view of the kibbutz family presents itself.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Primary Health Care Directorate, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa

    Rob Baum

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  1. Rob Baum
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. North Dakota State University , Fargo, North Dakota, USA

    Adam J. Goldwyn

  2. Florida International University , Miami, Florida, USA

    Renée M. Silverman

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Baum, R. (2016). Gender Dystopia on the Kibbutz: From Plato to Marx. In: Goldwyn, A., Silverman, R. (eds) Mediterranean Modernism. Mediterranean Perspectives. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58656-8_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58656-8_12

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-137-58927-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-58656-8

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