Language Is Not Only Roots, But Also Wings

1.1 The Beta-IsraelCommunity

The Ethiopian immigrants came to Israel mainly in two separate waves of immigration, in 1984

and in 1991. According to data retrieved from Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics, at the end of 2014,

131,400 Israeli residents (about 2.1 % of the population) were members of the Beta-Israel community (the

term favored by members of the Ethiopian community); of these, approximately 84,600 were born in

Ethiopia and 46,800 were born in Israel to Ethiopian parents. In the academic year (2012-2013), the total

number of students enrolled in higher education programs was 309,650 (29.1%); of these, only 2,694

(0.87%) students were of Ethiopian descent (Central Bureau of Statistics, 2013). As the data clearly show,

the percentage of students of Ethiopian descent in higher education does not coincide with their rate in the

population. This might be related to the high unemployment rate among this sector of the population, and

the fact that socioeconomically, it is located on the bottom-most rung in the Israeli society.

Many studies have documented the social and cultural lives of the Beta-Israel community (Weil,

1989), as well as the social changes, the challenges, and the difficulties these immigrants encountered in

trying to adapt to life in Israel's modern and individualistic society (Kalnisky, Millet, & Cohen, 2015;

Kassan & Shabtai, 2005). While the community's efforts to integrate into Israeli society continue, there is

a sense that the community has yet to find its “proper place" in the mosaic of Israeli society, in terms of its

cultural visibility or invisibility (Ben Ezer, 2010). More specifically, the community aspires to be

simultaneously visible and invisible: on the one hand, it aims to become an integral and therefore

indistinct part of the host culture, to be treated equally; however, also means becoming invisible. On the

other hand, the members of this community wish to preserve their uniqueness, to receive the kind of

consideration that would allow them to maintain their specific cultural characteristics as immigrants; (Ben

Ezer, 2010) and, in this sense, to remain visible.

1.2The Diverse Nature of Multiculturalism

An underlying assumption shared by most of the studies that examined the immigration processes

of the Beta-Israel community was based on an ideological conviction, namely, that these immigrants

wished to be integrated into Israel's mainstream society (Sever, 2001). In the first decades after the State

of Israel was established (1948), it was guided by a social and educational policy called "the gathering of

the Diaspora" or, following the example of the policy of the U.S., "the melting pot" (Sever, 2007). The

goal of this policy was to eliminate the cultural visibility of the immigrant groups; in effect, however, the

policy resulted in a phenomenon of negative visibility, as immigrant cultures were derided and their

members were subjected to years of discrimination (Resnick, 2010). The desire of the Beta-Israel

community was consistent with the policy of the host country, which encouraged covert assimilation

alongside overt assimilation. Ever since the early days when the State of Israel was newly founded, the

goal of covert assimilation was to distance the Jews who had emigrated from Islamic countries from their

cultural heritage and to integrate them into what was termed “Israeli culture”. Later, this approach was

substituted by a policy of overt assimilation, which was based on the view that particularistic cultures of

minority groups should disappear (in contrast to the monistic approach, which advocates for pluralism).

In recent years, the Ministry of Education, has announced that it is adopting a policy of

multiculturalism and plans to implement it throughout the educational system (Amendments to the Law

Regarding Educational Goals, 2000 and henceforth). Portera (2008) mentions several problems and

limitations regarding the use of the term multiculturalism , especially in the field of education. When

teachers and educators use the term in their work with children, it is perceived as something fashionable,

and thus ceases to be part of an extensive educational policy. Although teachers mean to introduce the

idea of multiculturalism in their classrooms, in effect they end up celebrating an exotic culture.

1.3Psychological and Sociological Aspects of Immigrants Language and Identity

In psychology, emotional language is a term used to describe the channel through which one

expresses one's deepest feelings, fears, and needs (Amir, 2013). Through language, the individual

constructs his or her unique inner world. This concept refers not only to verbal language but also to other

various modalities through which one communicates one's inner world to the environment. According to

this concept, there is a duality to language, in the sense that it is simultaneously a product as well as a

facilitator of individuation (Blos, 1967; Bollas, 1984). In addition to the fact that language, as a system of

symbols, sidesteps the concrete, it also creates what we experience as our "inner reality" (page 152). In

this sense, language is not only a means to achieve intimacy with the maternal figure, but also a means to

separate from her in order to become an individual. The main function of the native language in the

process of acquiring a language is to name objects and create links between them; the second function of

the native language is the naming of the individual, which grants the child the status of a separate subject.

This function helps form the individual's identity, as it provides the child with the emotional space in

which to develop his or her unique mental observational capacity. The third function of a native language,

which is also part of the development of an emotional language, is the transition from the subjective (first-

person) observation of the self to an objective (third-person) view of the self. A flexible transition from

subjective to objective perception enables the child to communicate the contents of his or her individual

world to the other and to understand the other's world, the "pseudo-language" (Amir 2013).

For immigrants, the inner language has additional and even more complex functions, given that the

child's emotional connection with the parents does not necessarily continue to be based on the native

language, as the child (and often the parents too) acquire another language, which serves as a means of

adapting to the new society. In some cases, the new language takes on the function of the native language;

in other cases, both languages are used to maintain this function. These varying situations introduce

additional aspects into the process of separation and individuation, related to the process of adapting to the

new country (Sever, 2007).

From the perspective of the social context, the visibility of immigrant groups must be observable

by the agents of the host culture. The mechanisms through which the agents "view" the immigrants should

also be accounted for, particularly since the world and one's identity are constructed using language (Ben

Porat, 2007). Thus, language is a major factor that contributes to the strengthening of the immigrant's

identification with the particular ethnic or national group (Shohamy, Ben-Rafael, & Barni, 2010).

The discourse through which the individual's identity is established encompasses all of the

normative connections that exist between one's use of language and other symbolic expressions and the

thoughts, feelings, art, values, and activities that are the by-products of language and its related symbolic

forms of expression. These by-products are the means by which individuals identify themselves as

belonging to a social network, which is significant to them.

Bourdieu (1991) claimed that social, historical, and political relationships are anchored in language

and that linguistic behavior reflects the struggles between the various groups in each society. In the case

of a society of immigrant groups, the desire to attain and preserve a positive social identity can be

achieved only when a comparison with the dominant group produces a positive outcome for the

immigrant group.

Mana, Or, & Mana (2004, 2007) found that the process of social integration of the Ethiopian

community in Jewish Israeli society is perceived as enriching the individual and the group, without

requiring abandonment of the original culture. This type of acculturation is termed expanded identity . In

contrast, the term competitive identity describes situations in which the culture of the country of origin is

perceived as superior to the local one, and the immigrants demand that it be recognized as a legitimate

part of the existing context. The term separatist identity describes situations in which a distinction is

purposely drawn between the original identity of the immigrant group and the identity of the host culture;

maintaining this distinction can be a matter of choice or a response to rejection by the host culture.

The concept of separatist identity is an expansion of the concept of the threatened identity

(Shabtai, 2001). The latter is characterized by the fact that the first generation of Ethiopian immigrants

does not experience an identity crisis, despite the collective and individual experience of having their

identity threatened. This is due to the active strategies that were used to contend with and overcome the

threat to their identity (for example, emphasizing the Jewish religion which they have in common with the

host culture). However, it appears that in the next generation, the immigrant identity of those who were

born in Israel was not defined by an inclusive mechanism oriented towards integration. Rather, their

identity was mostly defined by their skin color, which is the mechanism used by Israeli society to reject

them.

In a previous study (Kalnisky & Baratz, in print), we identified two types of identity, related to the

way Ethiopian immigrants (and their descendants) perceive themselves in the host society: an

unreconciled and a reconciled identity. The unreconciled identity is characterized by three parameters: (1)

there is a conflict between two identities, with one trying to overcome the other. In this case, the effort

was to give precedence to the Israeli identity over the Ethiopian identity; (2) there is an attempt to reject

the narrative, which emphasizes cultural visibility, and to accept the narrative of the hegemony; (3) a gap

emerges between the individual's personal identity and the Israeli identity that characterizes the

surrounding society. The reconciled identity , which attempts to create a single coherent identity that,

encompasses both the old identity and the new identity. At this end of the spectrum, cultural visibility is

not perceived as a threat. The narrative of the immigrant community is adopted, and the individual and

social identities are perceived as complementary.

1.4Research Aims

The article is based on a study of a two female Israeli Ethiopian students who were enrolled in a

teacher-education college. This study advances our understanding of the unique and complex situation of

the Ethiopian immigrants, in this particular instance -- as teachers, at the same time, these two stories,

which were selected from 20 interviews we conducted, are representative of the challenges that these

immigrants encounter in the acculturation process.

When designing this study, we had a dual purpose in mind. The first was to examine the manner in

which these participants portrayed their personal identity within their social frameworks – the one they

come from, i.e., the Ethiopian immigrant society, and the one into which they are attempting to integrate,

i.e., Israeli society. The second aim was to examine the mechanisms that they developed in order to

strengthen their sense of self-efficacy when coping with the conflicts resulting from the clash between

their two different worlds.

2.1.Research Procedure

2.2.Ethics

The students in the teacher-education College consented to participate in the study; they were aware

of that the data they provided would be gathered and used for the research and they understood its aims.

Personal details have been omitted to conceal the identity of the participants.

3.1.The Story of Elana

"I was born in Israel and I do not speak Amharic. My parents brought me up to

integrate into the Israeli milieu; they were also born in Israel. They rarely speak Amharic

between them, except with their parents. Actually, I had not affiliated myself with the

Ethiopian community. During my [compulsory] military service, my role was as a

teacher working with soldiers who were Ethiopian immigrants. My commander said:

"You are intimately familiar with the human material , so you are best equipped to help

them...." Actually, I was not well prepared for it, and I told him so: "I have no

connection to the community". I put it to him bluntly: "Do you need my skin to be

painted white to understand that I can never belong to the Ethiopian community? I do

not know the Amharic language; I do not know the Ethiopian mentality. (Defiantly) To

me, the Amharic letters look like graphic ornamentation";

3.2.The Story of Esti

Esti, described going with her mother to a parent-teacher meeting at school. During the

conversation between the teacher and her mother, she saw her mother nodding her head as the teacher

spoke. At the end of the meeting, her mother thanked the teacher and they left. On the way home, Esti

could not hold back her tears. When her mother asked her why she was crying, she explained that it was

not because the teacher said horrible things about her, but because the teacher did not even notice that her

mother did not understand of a word of what was said.

3.3.Comparison

The two stories of the second generation of immigrants reflect the participants' conflict with their

roots and the use of each of the two languages. Both participants mention both languages Amharic and

Hebrew; however, whereas Elana openly denied her Ethiopian identity, Esti has yet to come to terms with

her differentiation from the mother; which is why the linguistic gap between her teacher and her mother

brings her to tears. These two narratives provide insight into the identity-formation process of each

participant and reveal the differences in their relative degree of awareness of the identity-formation

process.

Elana demonstrates an awareness of her inner truth. She is not afraid to emphasize her sense of

identity: she is strong enough to insist on it despite the visibility of her ethnic roots. In contrast, Esti

would prefer to avoid the conflict altogether. Her identity is not yet clear. She did not force her mother to

admit to the teacher that she does not understand Hebrew, suggesting that Esti's relationship with the

teacher is less than sincere, whereas she her relationship with her mother is both intimate and loyal,

indicating that her mother's native language is also her own emotional and inner language (Amir, 2013).