An Endless Narrative: missing persons and the Cultural Space between Life and Death Ori Katz, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Supervision: Dr. Sara Helman 3rd International Conference on Missing Children and Adults 15.6.17

(Yaniv, father of Inbal, who has been missing for more than 20 years) "I thought of getting a tattoo of Inbal on my shoulder, so that she'll be with me wherever I go. Even if she is never found, she won't be alone […] I thought of having something temporary, like a henna, to see how I live with that mentally. It is not another tattoo after all. You must be bound for your entire life, and I still want to hold out hope that someday I will see Inbal for real" (Yaniv, father of Inbal, who has been missing for more than 20 years)

Temporal regimes “Temporal regimes represent the time-related structures, practices, and rules of using time in a particular context“ (Kaufman-Scarborough 2006)

Clock-time perspective Relative perspective Modern, capitalist, linear Post-modern, non-linear Time is externalized and objective Time occurs inside the self Reflects the modern tendency to have clear categories Ontological categories are liquid

Missing persons in Israel Approx. 4,000 reports to the police every year Approx. 550 persons are still missing Approx. 30 are not found within a year

1. Parallel Time "On the first days I would even sit in the bus station. I calculated that she should arrive there. And on the night of the Passover seder, I would say 'now she should come back'" (Yaniv, father of Inbal, who has been missing for more than 20 years) "Every year we celebrate Grandpa's birthday. We gather with the whole family and with a cake, as it's a birthday party, and he's gone. And now he would be 80 years old, so we talk about him but we don't really know how to talk, I mean, as if he still exists or not“ (Naomi, whose grandfather has been missing for five years)

Parallel Time

(Ruth, whose father has been missing for more than 40 years) 2. Presumed Dead Time "As a young child, my mother thought that he ran away. And up until I was already married with children I thought that my father ran away" … “I came to a conclusion that my father died on the same day that he was announced as missing“ (Ruth, whose father has been missing for more than 40 years)

(Vered, whose father has been missing for four years) Presumed Dead Time "My uncle passed away all of a sudden due to a stroke… It's sad, that’s true, but at least it's over. They have somewhere to go, there is this place to seclude themselves if they want to. And I don't have that. How many letters can I write him that remain on my computer?“ (Vered, whose father has been missing for four years)

(Michal, whose father has been missing for almost 20 years) Presumed Dead Time "I know that, I realize that, I grasp it. But I still have this dream, I still have this fantasy. Those dreams that come back on the date of his disappearance, the nightmares. I want a grave… I deserve a grave, deserve the quiet, deserve to stop being a missing person's daughter. My father deserves to die peacefully. I want it to stop. All I want are bones… I deserve to have his teeth, something. He deserves to have his name written… I want something real. I want a clear-cut answer that says 'here he is, here are your father's bones. There you go, he is dead, it's over'… that’s all I want. I know my father won’t come back"   (Michal, whose father has been missing for almost 20 years)

(Vered, whose father has been missing for four years) 3. Permanent Time “We had a meeting with the police station commander, and we asked: 'Is there a possibility that a person enters the sea and never shows up?' 'No, no way'… We wanted to hear from a professional: Is there a possibility that a person disappears and is never found? No one would answer this question, and it's hard. David gave us an answer… He told us 'yes. Yes!'… This punch that David gave us is like putting a mirror in front of you and telling us 'o.k. this is your life today, good luck and keep living’"   (Vered, whose father has been missing for four years)

(Vered, whose father has been missing for four years) Permanent Time "I had to explain to a 4 year old girl how her grandfather disappeared. How can you explain it? The initial perspective is ‘ok, it’s a story that will be over in a week or two.’ So I told her 'Grandpa doesn't feel well, he's in hospital, it’s o.k. I'm taking care of it'. But then a month passes, and two months, and three months and six months. How long can you keep lying to this girl? After a year I was broken… I told her the truth. A five year old girl is sitting in front of me and telling me 'Mom, you're a liar'… I lied to her, I lied for a year. I have a whole box of drawings from her that he will never get. I have dozens of letters that he will never receive“ (Vered, whose father has been missing for four years)

Permanent Time "We were thinking when can we stop, how can we stop… So we wanted to consult with another family who also had been through this. We called the family of Eliyahu Levi, who had then been missing for six months… We asked 'what are you doing now, after six months?' and they said 'nothing, we're doing nothing‘... We’ve been sitting at home and crying'. So it made me feel relaxed, I felt that we could stop" (Naomi, whose grandfather has been missing for five years) "Since we received your letter, my father and my brother have been in a state of tension and frustration… We have lived with the knowledge that my mother is missing, and throughout the years we accepted this and realized our mother will probably never be found… Your letter stating that my mother had been found re-aroused deep pain among us"   (Tzipi’s daughter, 30 years after the disappearance of her mother)

missingness Parallel time Presumed dead time Permanent time

dead alive