Description
Book SynopsisThe last several decades have seen the emergence of a remarkable phenomenon: a Jewish rebirth that is occurring throughout Africa. A variety of different ethnic groups proclaim that they are returning to long-forgotten Jewish roots, and African clans trace their lineage to the Lost Tribes of Israel. Africans have encountered Jewish myths and traditions in multiple forms and various ways. The context and circumstances of these encounters have gradually led, within some African societies, to the elaboration of a new Jewish identity connected with that of the Diaspora. This book presents, one by one, the different groups of Black Jews in western, central, eastern, and southern Africa and the ways in which they have used and imagined their oral history and traditional customs to construct a distinct Jewish identity. It explores the ways in which Africans have interacted with the ancient mythological sub-strata of both western and African ideas of Judaism. It particularly seeks to identify
Trade Reviewshines a wide and revealing spotlight on these unrecognized groups and how they came to construct their Jewish identity ... Bruder's research provides a more vivid and complete picture of the practices and community life of present-day Judaizing groups in the many countries she investigates. * Journal of Religion in Africa *
Table of ContentsINTRODUCTION; LOST TRIBES IN TWENTY-FIRST-CENTURY AFRICA; PART I: PREHISTORY; PART II: BLACK JUDAISM: GENESIS; PART III: AFRICA, JUDAISM, AND AFRICAN "JEWS"; EPILOGUE: ANCIENT MYTHS AND MODERN PHENOMENA; NOTES; BIBLIOGRAPHY; INDEX
