Chapter 2 - Collective Identity, Perceptions of the “Enemy,” and Personal Narratives

Summary

Chapter 2 discusses major conceptualizations of collective/group identity and perceptions of the other in relation to conflict contexts, in general, and to the Holocaust and the Jewish-Arab/Israeli-Palestinian conflict, in particular. The chapter focuses on social identity theory and its evolution, the intersectional approach to group identity, and personal narratives as identity. We then explore the connections that exist between conceptualizations of collective identity and intergroup, political violence. These ideas are tied into personal narratives connected to atrocities of genocide and war. The chapter further addresses issues of stereotyping, delegitimation, and dehumanization, “us. vs. them” thinking, and conceptualizations of victimhood. We end the chapter with short overviews of the collective identities of generations of Germans, in relation to the Holocaust, and generations of Jewish-Israelis and Palestinians, in relation to the Israeli–Palestinian context.