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Journal of Language and Politics: Online-First Articles

“Almost a mother tongue”

National identity and Hebrew language acquisition among Druze schoolchildren in Israel

ORCID logo | Northeastern University, Boston
Passage of Israel’s Jewish nationality law in 2018 shined more than usual light on the Druze citizens of Israel. It put into painful question their integration into Israeli society. Key to that integration is Druze mastery of the Jewish State’s official language; hence the question, “How do Israeli Druze learn Hebrew?” The answer is multivariable: pedagogy, gender, bilingualism, technology, religion, conscription, and socialization are all factors. Druze mastery of Hebrew through the IDF is being replaced by formal language education. This is reinforced through growing participation of Druze females in Israeli institutions. Arabic being the maternal tongue of Druze, unlike among the nation’s Jewish majority Hebrew surpasses English as their second language. Increasing use of social/digital media in Hebrew, particularly among the young, reinforces the bilingual identity of Israeli Druze. So do Hebrew language textbooks, which “Israelize” Druze by teaching about Judaism and emphasizing similarities between Jewish and Druze traditions.
Keywords: Druze, Israel, Hebrew, Arabic, nationality law, language, identity, integration
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Druze formal education in Israel
  • 3.Field site
  • 4.Texts, videos and accents
  • 5.Conclusions: Other exaggerated elements of linguistic conventional wisdom
  • Acknowledgements and dedication
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 8 April 2024
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.22200.mil
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