Civil melancholia: Yemenite Jews’ responses to the kidnapping of their children

During Yemenite Jews’ stay in Israeli transit camps during 1948–1950, many of their children disappeared the so-called “Yemenite Children Affair,” undermining immigrants’ faith redemptive ethos Zionism. To better understand this collective trauma, we return to original Freudian conceptualization melancholia as “failed mourning,” locating it within ethnographic context Affair and integrating its private/individual public/collective aspects. Moreover, provide a novel historical reading that integrates individual loss lack civic recognition. We use term “civil melancholia” reflect on lingering, hurtful group experience being overlooked (as refugees parents) continuing predicament “second-rate citizens.” By conceptualizing civil cultural nuances, analysis enhances discussion traumas intergenerational transmission among contemporary ethnic immigrant groups.