Description
Book SynopsisBaghdadi Jewish Networks in the Age of Nationalism traces the participation of Baghdadi Jews in Jewish transnational networks from the mid-nineteenth century until the mass exodus of Jews from Iraq between 1948 and 1951. Each chapter explores different components of how Jews in Iraq participated in global Jewish civil society through the modernization of communal leadership, Baghdadi satellite communities, transnational Jewish philanthropy and secular Jewish education. The final chapter presents three case studies that demonstrate the interconnectivity between different iterations of transnational Jewish networks. This work significantly expands our understanding of modern Iraqi Jewish society by going beyond its engagement with Arab/Iraqi nationalism or Zionism/anti-Zionism to explore Baghdadi participation within Jewish transnational networks.
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements List of Figures and Tables Abbreviations Transliteration Notes Introduction 1 Scholarship on the Jews of Iraq 2 Methods and Sources 3 Jewish Transnational Networks: Modernization, Globalization, and Secularization 4 The Jewish Communal Organization in Iraq 5 Outline 1 Nineteenth-Century Network and Connections 1 Secular Jewish Identity and Transnational Jewish Solidarity 2 Economic and Political Reforms 3 Nineteenth-Century European Influence: Iterations of Enlightenment 4 The Lay Council: Structural and Intellectual Forces of Modernity 5 Conclusions: Nineteenth-Century Networks and Innovations 2 Transnational Networks and the Baghdadi Diaspora 1 The Satellite Communities as a Baghdadi Diaspora 2 Historical Background 3 The Baghdadi Diaspora and Its Connection with Baghdad 4 Language Use and the Baghdadi Jewish Press 5 Financial Support and Philanthropy 6 Social Status and Mitigating Poverty 7 Changes in the Baghdadi World, 1941 to 1951 8 Conclusions: Lasting Influences in Baghdad 3 Transnational Jewish Philanthropy 1 Foreign Partners 2 Communal Budgets: A Mosaic of Actors 3 Conclusions: Philanthropic Diversity and Continuity 4 Jewish Education in Iraq 1 The Development of the Jewish School Network 2 Modern Jewish Schools 3 Curriculum: Multilingualism and Modernity 4 Linguistic Creativity and Cultural Diversity 5 Conclusions 5 Twentieth-Century Networks 1 Theosophy: Challenging Rabbinic Hegemony 2 E. Levy: Zionism, Foreign Press, and Censorship 3 Ibrahim Nahum: The Kadoorie Agent in Baghdad 4 Conclusions: Multiple Networks and Connections Conclusion 215 1 English and French as Transnational Jewish Languages 2 A Transnational Identity: The Baghdadi Community 3 The Emergence of New Jewish Identities Appendix A: List of Jewish Communal Organizations and Associations Appendix B: Baghdadi Population Estimates Appendix C: Ibrahim Nahum’s Letter to the Kadoorie Family, December 25, 1934 Bibliography Index
