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Syllabus Ethnicity intergroup relations and cultural exchange: Jews in the Asian Sphere - 46894

Last update 21-08-2017

HU Credits: 2

Degree/Cycle: 2nd degree (Master)

Responsible Department: asian studies

Academic year: 0

Semester: 1st Semester

Teaching Languages: English

Campus: Mt. Scopus

Course/Module Coordinator: Dr. Chen Bram

Coordinator Email: [email protected]

Coordinator Office Hours: by appointment

Teaching Staff: Dr.

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Course/Module description: The course deals with ethnicity, inter-communal relations and cultural exchange through the case studies of Jewish communities in Modern (19th-20th centuries). Jews migrated and settled along the historic networks of global trade (the Silk Road and the ), in similarity to Muslims and Christians. During the late colonial period additional migrations and transitions were affected by global crises and changes. In this course we propose that Asian Jews should be studied as integral part of Central and Southeastern Asian societies - and not as the commonly accepted notion of “isolated” Jewish communities. Comparative analysis of minorities can contribute to study processes of cross- cultural contacts and the factors enabling or, alternately, obstructing multi-ethnic and religious pluralistic societies. Theoretical and methodological approaches will be presented as the basis for studying interactions between minorities and between them and the majority in the context of radical changes in economy, society, science, culture and religion in late modernity. The course combines analytic approaches of social sciences with approaches of the Humanities, anthropological and sociological perspectives with cultural history and critical theory. How do diverse patterns of ethnic relations and the preservation and constructing of communal identity inter-relate with cross-cultural encounters and cultural adaptation? And what can we study from the case study of Jewish communities in Asia on contacts and exchange between civilizations, religions and diverse ethnic groups in the Asian sphere? These questions will be addressed also in regard of the role of minorities within the economic system, the relationship between minorities and the authorities of political systems and their dynamics in relation to colonialism, modernity, secularism and nationalism. Additionally, the course will examine the role of Jews in multi-ethnic networks and the connection between economic relations and cultural exchange. Lastly, the course will examine migrations of Jews from Asia to and to other secondary diasporas, and their transnational relations with their countries of origin. These subjects touch upon contemporary interests and issues as the diplomatic and economic relationship between Asian countries and Israel are strengthened.

Course/Module aims: Students will study various approaches to the analysis of inter-group relations and of cultural exchange and contacts, and will use them to analyze a specific case study.

Learning outcomes - On successful completion of this module, students should be able to: 1. Students will have a broad knowledge of Jewish communities in Asia, and will be able to understand them in relation to each local context.

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2. Students will be exposed to the dialogue between anthropology and history and its contribution to the study of minorities in the Asian Sphere.

Attendance requirements(%): 100%

Teaching arrangement and method of instruction: Seminar

Course/Module Content: 1) Introductions: social and economic relations, ethnicity and cultural exchange

2) Jewish communities as a case study: culture, language and intergroup relations in poly ethnic surroundings: the example of Kerala .t BochumהGuest lecture: Dr. Ophira Gamliel, CERES, Ruhr-Universit

3) Theoretical introduction: Anthropological approaches to ethnicity & the study of cross-cultural exchange

4) The trade routes as zone of encounters: from pre-modern to colonial eras.

5) Jews as locals or locals as Jews (1): The case of Chinese Jews

6) The case of ‘Benei Israel” of Maharshtra

7) The ‘Baghdadi Jews’ between , Sout-east Asia and

8) Jews in and Afganistan : between Shiites and Sunnis, centers and peripheries

9) Along the Silk road(2): the ‘Bukara’ ( Central Asia) Jews.

10) Georgia: Jews as part from local surrounding for time immemorial (?)

11) Jew of Caucasus: multi-ethnic surroundings and challenges of Russian rule.

12) Jews in Kurdistan: Ancient heritage and modern trajectories

13) in Motion: new developments renewed/new Jewish groups

14) Immigration and Diasporas

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Required Reading: 1) Introductions * Trivellato, Franseca, “Jews of Leghorn, Italians of Lisbon, and Hindus of : Merchant Networks and Cross-Cultural Trade in the Early Modern Period”, in: Curto, Diogo Ramada and Anthony Molho (eds.), Commercial Networks in the Early Modern World, Florence: European University Institute. 2002. * Bonachich, Edna, “A Theory of Middleman Minorities.” American Sociological Review 38.5 (October), 1973: 583-594.

2) the example of Kerala *Fischel, Walter J., “The Exploration of the Jewish Antiquities of Cochin on the ”, in: Journal of the American Oriental Society, 87:3, 1967. Pp. 230-248 * Zacharia, Scaria, “Possibilities of understanding Jewish Malayalam Folk songs”, in: The Journal of Indo-Judaic Studies 6., 2003. Pp. 29-47.

3) Theoretical introduction: *Barth, Fredrik, “Introduction,” in: Ethnic Groups and Boundaries, Boston: Little Brown.1969. *Cohen, Ronals., “Ethnicity: Problems and Focus in Anthropology," Annual Review of

Anthropology, 7, 1978. pp. 379- 403. 4) The trade routes as zone of encounters: * Hoerder, Dirk, Cultures in Contact: World Migrations in the Second Millennium, Durham: Duke University Press, 2002. Pp. 163-186. *Lucassen, Jan, Leo Lucassen and Patrick Manning, 2010. Migration History in World History: Multidisciplinary Approaches. Leiden; Boston: Brill. Pp. 3-35

5) The case of Chinese Jews Eber, Irene, Chinese and Jews:‎ encounters between cultures, London :‎* Vallentine Mitchell,‎* 2008. ,,,, Johnson, Barbara, “ and K'aifeng Jews: Reflections on Caste, Surname, "Community" and Conversion”, in: Jonathan Goldstein (ed.), The Jews of China, Armonk, NY and London: M.E. Sharpe Publishers, 1999. Pp. 104-119.

6) The case of ‘Benei Israel” of Maharshtra

Israel" and "Beta יAbbink, G.J., "Ethnic Tajectories in Israel: Comparing the "Ben Israel" Communities, 1950-2000", Anthropos 97, Anthropos Institut, Sankt Augustin, 2002, p. 3-19.

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Roland, Joan. Jews in British India: Identity in a Colonial Era, Hanover, N.H.: University Press of New England, 1989.

7) The ‘Baghdadi Jews’ * Fischel, Walter J., “The Immigration of "Arabian" Jews to India in the Eighteenth Century”, in: Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research, Vol. 33 (1965), pp. 1-20.

* Roland, Joan, Jews in British India, Hanover and London: University Press of New England, 1989. Pp. 11-64.

8) Jews in Iran and Afganistan : between Shiites and Sunnis, centers and peripheries

* Sarshar, Houman. Esther’s Children: A Portrait of Iranian Jews. Beverly Hills, Calif: Center for Iranian Jewish Oral History, 2002. * Greenberger, Robert S., “How Jew-Friendly Persia Became Anti-Semitic Iran.”, Moment., November 2006.

9) Along the Silk road(2): the ‘Bukara’ ( Central Asia) Jews.

*Zand Mikhail, '' in Encyclopedia Judaica Yearbook, 183-192. 1975. *Levin, Theodore Craig,. The Hundred Thousand Fools of God: Musical Travels in Central Asia (and Queens, New York) , Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1996. *Cooper, Alanna E., “Reconsidering the Tale of Yosef Maman and the Bukharan ”. Jewish Social Studies, 10.2 2004, pp. 80-115.

10) Georgia: Jews as part from local surrounding for time immemorial (?)

Bram, Chen, “Inter-group Intimacy, Informality and (Post) Soviet Legacy: Jewish- Muslim and Jewish- Christian Relations in Central Asia and the Caucasus.”, Paper submitted to the proceedings of the International Conference: Informal Practices and Structures in Eastern and Central Asia, University of Fribourg, Switzerland. 21-23, November 2013. Chlenov, Michael A., “Oriental Jewish Groups in the Former Soviet Union, Central Asia and the Caucasus 3 (21), 2003.

11) Jew of Caucasus: multi-ethnic surroundings and challenges of Russian rule. Zand, Michael, Notes on the Culture of the Non Ashkenazi Jewish Communities

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Under Soviet Rule, in: Ro'I, Y. and Beker Avi, (eds). Jewish Culture and Identity in the Soviet Union, New York: New York University Press,1991, pp. 378-441. Bram, Chen, “Caucasus Jews and their Neighbors: Social Networks in a Multi-Ethnic Society” in: The North Caucasus, Histories, Diasporas and Current Challenges. Ergun Ozgur (ed.),New York: The Social Sciences Research Council, 2009, pp. 22-35.

12) Jews in Kurdistan: Ancient heritage and modern trajectories

* Zaken, Mordechai.,"Jewish Subjects and their tribal Chieftains in Kurdistan: A Study in Survival., Jewish Identities in a Changing World, 9 , Boston: Brill Publishers, 2007. Halper, Jeff, Abramovitch, Heri., "The Saharenei as a mediator of Kurdish-Jewish Ethnicity," Proceedings of the Eight World Union of Jewish Studies, Jerusalem August 16-21 1981. 1982, Pp 79-84.

13) Judaism in Motion: new developments renewed/new Jewish groups

Egorova, Yolia. & Perwez, S. The Jews of Andhra Pradesh: Contesting Caste and Religion in South India. Oxford: Oxford University Press.2013. Maity, Bhaswar, T. Sitalaximi, R. Trivedi and V. K. Kashyap, “Tracking the Genetic Imprints of Lost Jewish Tribes among the Gene Pool of Kuki-Chin-Mizo Population of India”, in: Genome Biology 6:P1, 2004. 14) Immigration and Diasporas

Bram C., “Cultural Identity and inter-cultural creativity among Caucasus Jews” in: Piyyut (Jewish Liturgical Poetry): A Window for Reconstructing Cultures, H. Pedaya (ed.), Jerusalem: The Van-Leer Institute and Hakibbutz Hameuhad, 2012. (Hebrew) Cooper, Alanna E. and the Dynamics of Global Judaism (Indiana Series in Sephardi and Mizrahi Studies). Indiana University Press. 201

Additional Reading Material:

Course/Module evaluation: End of year written/oral examination 0 % Presentation 0 % Participation in Tutorials 0 %

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Project work 60 % Assignments 0 % Reports 40 % Research project 0 % Quizzes 0 % Other 0 %

Additional information: 1)The current list of theme and bibliography is tentative, instructor might change some topics or readings. Students are encouraged to suggest topics and ideas. 2) Students will be ask to give a presentation as a first step towards writing final assignment. 3) 5 additional bonus points can be achieved through team work.

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