Transcending networks’ boundaries: losses and displacements at the contact zone between English and Hebrew

Abstract

Abstract This conceptual article applies a theoretical-linguistic analysis for examining the socio-cultural-historical networks that gave rise to two distinct forms of out-of-school education. One form is practiced in western English speaking cultures and termed “informal education”. The other form is practiced in Israel and termed “complementary education”. The process of examination applies the theoretical lens of Actor-Network-Theory (ANT) to analyse how social- historical-cultural-political processes have interacted to produce “complementary education” in Israel. This is followed by analysis of the bi-lingual translation processes that take place at the contact-zone (Pratt, M. L. 1991. Arts of the contact zone. Profession, ofession, 33–40. Modern Language Association Publishers.) between the two languages. The ANT analysis revealed a network consisting of a unique educational model that closely aligns with Ivan (Illich, I. 1971. Deschooling society. New York, USA: Harper and Row.) model presented in his seminal book Deschooling society. The examination also revealed that over time, the Anglophone term “informal education” displaced the Hebrew term “complementary education”, yet the network itself with its unique model continues to thrive. Examination of the contact zone between English and Hebrew found a strong Anglophone dominance, which permits only unidirectional translation from English to Hebrew. The discussion argues for developing post-monolingual research which provides opportunities for bi-directional translation processes to take place, thus eliminating losses of valuable knowledge at both sides of the contact zone.