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Eleonore Merza

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Eleonore Merza
Born1980
Paris
EducationCentre national de la recherche scientifique; Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales
OccupationAnthropologist

Eleonore Merza (born 1980?) is an anthropologist who studies Adygean diaspora communities in Israel and beyond.

Biography

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Merza was born in Paris circa 1980.[1] Her father's family were Circassian, originally from Maykop in Adygea, but who were forced to flee from the region in the 1860s by the Russian government.[1] This era became known as the Circassian genocide, where 1.5 million people were killed, and 90% of the same number who remained were forced to emigrate.[1] Merza's great-grandfather Mamet Merzamwkhwo was a refugee who fled, first to the Balkans, then to the Golan Heights where twelve Circassian villages were founded, including Mansoura where the family settled.[1] Later the inhabitants were expelled following the Israeli invasion and moved to Syria.[1]

In contrast, Merza's mother's family were Algerian Jews; the two met at a Communist Party meeting in Paris whilst studying abroad.[1] They married and lived in Paris, where Merza and her brother Alexandre-Indar were born.[1] Merza spent her early childhood in Amman as her father worked there an engineer.[1] She attended a French school, but lived in a Circassian community.[1]

Career

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Reyhaniya, one of two Circassian towns in Israel
Circassian men in Kfar Kama, the other village
The Circassian Heritage Centre in Kfar Kama

Merza undertook doctoral research at Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales where she examined how Circassian (specifically Adygean), Jewish and Muslim identities intersect within Israel.[2] Her thesis was entitled: “Neither Jews nor Arabs in Israel: Identity of a minority in a space of war and in dialectics of negotiations - Test case of the Circassians (Adygheans) of Kfar Kama and Reyhaniya”.[3] Whilst undertaking fieldwork for her doctoral research in Israel, Merza's dual identity became problematic with frequent interrogation by Israeli authorities about her political beliefs.[4] Merza's postdoctoral research at the Centre national de la recherche scientifique looked the idea of occupation, in terms of those who are conscientious objectors against military service and attitudes of society towards them, as well as the economic impact of occupation for Israel.[5][6]

In 2015, she and her husband Eitan Bronstein Aparicio founded the NGO De-Colonizer to try to begin to sensitise Israelis to their colonial history.[7]

In 2018 Merza published a new work Nakba, which aims to bring the discussion of the role of the Israeli state as a coloniser back to public consciousness.[8] Her understanding of the Nakba has contributed to other academic projects.[9] This work is part of a trend in memory activism in Israel since 1998.[10] Both believe that Palestinian points of view need to be understood by Israeli Jews.[11]

Selected publications include:

  • Nakba (Omniscience, 2018)[12]
  • 'The Israeli Circassians: non-Arab Arabs', Bulletin du Centre de recherche français à Jérusalem (2012)[13]
  • 'Being both Non-Jewish Israelis and Non-Palestinian Muslims: Isn’t it Too Much?', Bulletin du Centre de recherche français à Jérusalem (2010)[14]

She lives in Tel Aviv and in addition to her anthropological research works as a photographer and a writer.[15]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Hass, Amira (2016-05-16). "A Woman Digs for Her Circassian Family's Roots - and Plants Her Own - in the Golan". Haaretz. Retrieved 2020-04-17.
  2. ^ Longuet Marx, Frédérique; Clayer, Nathalie; Lory, Bernard; Anastassiadou-Dumont, Méropi; Popovic, Alexandre; Hamès, Constant (2009-01-01). "ÉTO – Centre d'histoire du domaine turc (CHDT)". Annuaire de l'EHESS. Comptes rendus des cours et conférences (in French): 702–707. ISSN 0398-2025.
  3. ^ Merza, Eleonore (2012). Ni Juifs ni Arabes en Israël: dialectiques d'identification et négociations identitaires d'une minorité dans un espace en guerre : le cas des Tcherkesses (Adyghéens) de Kfar Kama et de Reyhaniya (in French).
  4. ^ Lamarche, Karine (2015-12-22). "L'apport heuristique d'une implication incontournable. L'exemple d'une recherche sur un terrain " sensible " (Israël-Palestine) *". Civilisations. Revue internationale d'anthropologie et de sciences humaines (in French) (64): 35–44. doi:10.4000/civilisations.3822. ISSN 0009-8140.
  5. ^ Plessix, Caroline du; Tovias, Alfred (2014-11-25). "The EU, Israel and the "Arab Spring" States: Beyond the Status Quo?. Strategic considerations". Bulletin du Centre de recherche français à Jérusalem (25). ISSN 2075-5287.
  6. ^ "Eleonore Merza Bronstein". orientxxi.info. Retrieved 2020-04-17.
  7. ^ "Retour de Palestine (2) Rencontre avec Eléonore Merza Bronstein". morlaix-palestine-solidarite, AFPS du Pays de Morlaix (in French). Retrieved 2020-04-17.
  8. ^ "Printemps de la Palestine / Conférence d'Eléonore Merza-Bronstein sur son dernier livre". Association France Palestine Solidarité (in French). Retrieved 2020-04-17.
  9. ^ Shaindlinger, Noa Tova (2016). Remembering Past(s), Imagining Futures: The Politics of Hope in Palestine (Thesis thesis).
  10. ^ Górska, Ewa (2016). "Memory activism : methods of creation of alternative collective memory in former Yugoslavia and Israel". Maska. 32. ISSN 1898-5947.
  11. ^ "Israel and Palestine: a story of modern colonialism". openDemocracy. Retrieved 2020-04-17.
  12. ^ Merza Bronstein, Eléonore. (18 October 2018). Nakba : pour la reconnaissance de la tragédie palestinienne en Israël. Bronstein Aparicio, Eitan. Mouans-Sartoux. ISBN 979-10-97502-09-6. OCLC 1080639899.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  13. ^ Merza, Eleonore (2012-12-31). "Les Tcherkesses d'Israël : des " Arabes pas arabes "". Bulletin du Centre de recherche français à Jérusalem (in French) (23). ISSN 2075-5287.
  14. ^ Merza, Eleonore (2010-12-15). "Being both Non-Jewish Israelis and Non-Palestinian Muslims: Isn't it Too Much?. The Circassian Identity across Borders and Categorizations". Bulletin du Centre de recherche français à Jérusalem (21). ISSN 2075-5287.
  15. ^ "who we are". de-colonizer (in French). Retrieved 2020-04-17.
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