ABSTRACT
This chapter continues the exploration of ideology in everyday discourse in Israeli academic mizrahanut, as part of the neoliberal academia. It expands on the effects of the view that a public image is linked to access to resources. The chapter analyses the assumptions and methods of 'stimulating' demand, and explores who sells to whom and how. The use of non-academic 'celebrities' in academic spaces and capacities is one marketing device. As an extension of the explicit ambition to the ‘public visibility’ agenda, the Head of the Centre is personally invested in an image campaign. Indeed, it is never rudimentary to stress the field’s economy, or ecology. Mizrahanut navigates the ‘wills’ of students, donors and staff, as well as negotiates legal requirements, and local and global academic conventions of what being a university field today means. This point serves as the starting point for the next chapter, where the national element is being sensed in narratives of public engagement.
