The relationship between language and identity is a central theme in sociolinguistics, and various scholars have exemplified how language forms our sense of belonging in a community through the lenses of different approaches. This book does not provide more research on the intersections of language and society that have been dwelled upon for the last decades; quite the contrary, it offers a new terrain in which concepts such as diaspora, hybridity, Jewish identity, and Hebrew language are explored.
Based on seven years of research and participant observation, the authors present a vivid picture of educational and linguistic practices adopted by several Jewish summer camps. Drawing upon the infusion metaphor, Sarah Bunin Benor, Jonathan Krasner, & Sharon Avni investigate how Hebrew is integrated into a primarily English environment and introduce a variety of English that is called ‘Camp Hebraized English’ (CHE), a register of Jewish American English that includes Hebrew words connected to camp life. The authors’ innovative work shapes a unique study that emphasizes the ubiquitous although underestimated role of hybrid language practices and their role in the formation of the Jewish Americans’ ‘imagined communities’.
Hebrew infusion contains eight chapters, organized into two parts, with an introduction that offers a historical context. In Part 1 (chapters 1–3) the authors tell the history of Hebrew at American Jewish summer camps through case studies that are related to different summer camps and the infusion of Hebrew words in their everyday, religious, and cultural practices. Focusing on the power of language as a social organizing and meaning-making force, in chapter 1, the authors examine how the camps’ leadership transformed Hebrew words into a tool for Jewish identity cultivation. The next chapters emphasize the distinction between Hebrew infusion and immersion through vivid examples of Massad and Ramah camps.
Part 2 (chapters 4–8) offers a contemporary analysis of language infusion practices through the lens of ideology, Hebrew-English hybridity, multilingualism, group-identity, and nationalism and highlights the differences between American Jewish identity and Israeli identity. Of particular interest is chapters 7 and 8. Chapter 7 investigates the relationship between Hebrew and Israel as an aporia of Hebrew authenticity that is brought to camps by Israeli emissaries and examines critically the intersection between Jewish nationalism and CHE. Chapter 8 explores conflicting ideologies of Hebrew usage.
By utilizing multiple research methods and theoretical frameworks to examine linguistic practices followed by different summer camps, the authors attempt to explore the importance of CHE in the promotion of Jewish culture and identity. Great attention has been paid to anthropological and linguistical implications of the participants’ cultural identity, with the main analytical focus on Jewish diaspora and its symbolic links to Israel. In a context in which language and identification are interrelated, Hebrew infusion offers insightful viewpoints from sociolinguistics and linguistic anthropology to approach the Jewish ‘sacred national treasure—the Hebrew language’ and its importance to the Jewish American community via CHE, although the Jewish summer camps under investigation do not lead to Hebrew fluency. A truly useful book for scholars of sociolinguistics, applied linguistics, anthropology, and Jewish education.
