Ethnography 0(00) 1–22 ! The Author(s) 2016 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/1466138116638676 eth.sagepub.com Article Ghosts and habitus: The lasting hegemony in Israeli theatre Tova Gamliel Bar-Ilan UniversityIsrael Abstract The article asks why the Israeli theatre’s ‘voicing hegemony’ practices endure despite a critical public debate that favors cultural pluralism. Ethnographies at two central rep- ertory theatres elicit the meanings of the theatre’s ‘back-to-the past’ institutional hab- itus, as revealed in observations and in-depth interviews with actors, and disclose artistic dispositions that bolster veteran actors’ stature in the theatre and Israeli art generally. Analysis of the findings links professional capital with the twilight of an artist’s theatrical career. One conclusion connects the theatrical habitus with justification of Israel’s Zionist ideology. Theoretically, the article illuminates the historical component of the Bourdieuian concept of habitus. The duplication of this component in the back- to-the-past habitus inheres to mythification processes and makes the theatrical habitus relatively resilient to social changes. Keywords modern theatre, ghosts, Bourdieu, institutional habitus, professional capital, cultural hegemony A recent Israeli newscast described the retirement of a septuagenarian stage actor. His story, like those of his Ashkenazi (Western-origin) ‘founders’ generation’, harked to his youth in Israel’s first decade. One day, unemployed, he had visited a Tel Aviv repertory theatre and met a famous stage director, who asked him simple questions – How tall are you? Can you play the harmonica? – and hired him. The newsclip focused on his last job, directing a play in which he had once acted. With historical pictures in the background, the narrator described Jewish actors of Russian origin who had become world-famous and then proclaimed this group the ‘royalty’ of Israeli theatre. The anecdote underscored the stature that the Corresponding author: Tova Gamliel, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, 529002 Israel. Email: tova.gamliel@biu.ac.il at Bar-Ilan university on May 7, 2016 eth.sagepub.com Downloaded from