From Ultrasound to Army: The Unconscious Trajectories of Masculinity in Israel

Daring to gaze directly into the core of parenting in Israel, this book presents, for the first time, a study that focuses on the conscious and unconscious aspects of the Israeli parenting experience when raising sons is overshadowed by the knowledge that at 18 years old, these sons will be drafted into inherently life-endangering compulsory military service.

Exposing the emotional drama, hidden from open view until now, and against a background of a uniquely intertwined Jewish and Israeli history, Hanni Mann-Shalvi explores the dynamics that shape Israeli parenting norms, and simultaneously impact the couple relationship as sons grow up and develop their masculine Israeli identity. From Ultrasound to Army delves into the developmental processes experienced by the young Israeli male up until military recruitment, his image as a cadet and later as a commando, his changing relationship with his parents, and his experiences on being discharged, all of which affect his development from boy to man.

Hanni Mann-Shalvi offers a highly important, complex and in-depth observation of the individual-social psychic fabric which holds significant implications for social life and male-female relationships in Israel and consequently impacts social relationships at the personal, familial, national and international levels.