@article {6944, title = {Ethnonational Existential Uncertainty of Israeli Jews and Qu{\'e}b{\'e}cois}, year = {2007}, abstract = {

Abstract

This paper focuses on "small peoples,{\textquotedblright} a term coined by Milan Kundera to denote ethnic communities that lack a "sense of an eternal past and future.{\textquotedblright} My aim is twofold: to expose this phenomenon and to both theoretically and empirically explore its bases. I first describe this phenomenon, which I believe is invaluable to the understanding of both ethnicity and security. I further argue that in modern times, "small peoples{\textquotedblright} are marked by a heightened and historically prolonged sense of uncertainty about the viability of their future-driven national survival (epistemic insecurity) and the validity of their past-based ethnic identity (ontological insecurity). Empirically, I analyze two distinct "small peoples{\textquotedblright}{\textemdash}Israeli Jews and French Canadians (Qu{\'e}b{\'e}cois){\textemdash}and suggest that while the former have been plagued by quandaries about survival, the latter have been no less concerned with insecurity about identity.

}, author = {Uriel Abulof} }