Arab Jews

Catalog description

What does it mean to be Jewish and Arab? In this course we will read and analyze representations of this contested identity in memoirs, essays, fiction, and film by and about Arab Jews. We will study the history of Arab Jewish communities as well as the causes and consequences of their displacement in the mid 20th Century. We will explore the identity politics of Arab Jews in diaspora communities in North America, Europe and Israel. Not all Jews from Arab contexts spoke Arabic or identified with Arab culture. We will examine the political, cultural, and philosophical differences among the terms Sephardi, Mizrahi, and Levantine. We will pay particular attention to the wide-ranging political philosophies of Arab Jews in Israel / Palestine, from the Israeli Black Panthers to the religious party Shas. We will conclude by examining the politics of memory in representations of Arab Jews produced in Arab countries.