Emanuel Marx

0:00:05 [Begins in mid sentence with a question about why he became an anthropologist] Began with 1948 war of independence when he’d been involved in a lot of fighting with Arabs and came out with a bad conscience and felt need to study the Arabs to get a better understanding of the situation; studied orientalistics ie. Middle Eastern history, economics, Arabic, and sociology; turned to anthropology as wanted to do fieldwork and found a model in Emrys Peters work; after M.A. became assistant to Prime Minister’s advisor on Arab affairs for five years; learnt more about Arabs and how they are discriminated against; after this got permission to study in England for a year in 1959

0:03:10 Went to Manchester and became converted to anthropology through reading Evans-Pritchard’s work on the Nuer and through conversations; led on to PhD fieldwork on the Bedouin of the Negev; interested in external influences and how Bedouin fitted into wider society, had to look at military government and how it affected their lives, so a more contextual study than was normal at that time; led to deeper interest in bureaucracy, power and government

0:05:13 Emrys Peters has been the greatest influence, a marvellous teacher and friend; did work with Max Gluckman and with Victor Turner also; Peters assured me of my own identity

0:06:10 On return to Israel had to set up a department in Tel Aviv in 1964; 1963 knew that he’d not get a job as an anthropologist in Israel but invited to set up a department of sociology in Tel Aviv and got money for research in Israel from Lord Bernstein

0:08:00 Bernstein project allowed the establishment of anthropology as an academic discipline in Israel; much influenced by the Manchester school but later Haifa University took a different model as did others

0:09:05 Now Israeli anthropology has some special characteristics, it deals almost exclusively with Israeli society, a modern complex society, deeply involved with people worked on and concerned about them; studying social problems eg. mental asylums, prisons, old peoples’ homes

0:11:55 Involved in advocacy on behalf of the Bedouins; saw it as payment of a debt; Bedouin resettlement

0:14:03 Currently completing a book on Bedouin of Southern Sinai concerned with economics; also studying a slum renewal scheme and its bureaucracy

0:16:00 Not applied anthropology but theoretical anthropology that may eventually be applied; necessary to understand before applying

0:17:10 Future of Israeli anthropology; in all universities now there is a joint sociology and anthropology department; anthropologist pursued wide interests, many outside Israel; now retrenching and looking at Israel again