Black skin, white pioneer: non-traditional casting in an Israeli school pageant

Abstract

The casting of a black Ethiopian Jewish girl to play a white Zionist pioneer character in an Israeli school pageant causes feelings of discomfort among the teachers, especially the vice-principal. The vice-principal uses theatrical and historical reasons to justify her opposition to the casting which can actually be perceived as new/colour-blind racism. The term non-traditional casting and its subcategories are the analytical concepts through which this case study is observed. I argue that although the vice-principal finally agreed to this unusual casting, she succeeded in shaping the situation into an essentialist, racial and national hierarchy and maintained, in this manner, the conformist order.

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