1. Ignorance is the Immigrants' worst Enemy": Social interpretation of the medical absorption of Immigrants to Israel during the 1950s.
- Author
-
Stoler-Liss, Sachlav
- Subjects
IMMIGRANTS ,IGNORANCE (Theory of knowledge) ,EMIGRATION & immigration ,NURSES ,PHYSICIANS ,HEALTH promotion - Abstract
The Mass Immigration to Israel in the 1950's included over one million immigrants from Europe, Asia and Africa, which Immigrated to Israel in a relatively short time. These people were suffering from countless diseases. We will identify the social mechanisms of medical selection, treatment, and health education that were in use during the mass immigration of the 1950s. We will discuss the inter-connections between these mechanisms and the political, national, and cultural context, and explore who operated these mechanisms and what they think now, in hindsight, about themselves, their actions, and about the immigrants. The immigrants were seen by the medical stuff as a reservoir of diseases, poor hygienic habits and ignorance. The staff considered themselves as progressive, modern and rational. The immigrants' children were often described as skinny and dirty, and as a possible threat to the health of the non- immigrants. The women immigrants were largely considered as passive, quiet and relatively easy to shape. The men immigrants were seen as violent, patriarchal and uncooperative. An idea for a new concept- adaptive improvisational patterns- will be presented. The study is based on 35 depth interviews with Israeli nurses and doctors who worked with immigrants during the 1950s. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2007