Description
Book SynopsisThis book presents a list of chapters that introduce a life-long career of ethnographic works carried out by a leading Israeli anthropologist. It presents Moshe Shokeid's explorations, discoveries, and feelings about the vicissitudes of social life which he closely observed in three major arenas of contemporary Jewish life: Moroccan Jews who immigrated from Atlas Mountains to become farmers in the semi-arid Negev fields; Israeli-born citizens, who left their homes to start a new life in America; and, finally, American gay Jews who chose to preserve their cultural heritage and maintain spiritual synagogue life as part of the mosaic of New York Jews. The panorama of Shokeid's ethnographic journeys ends with a few chapters that display his methods of research and his personal experiences as participant observer among his fellow Jews in their unique path to promote their social and spiritual aspirations.
Trade Review"The editorial decision to compile all these ethnographic essays into three 'journeys' was a well-taken one…In the end, the book Three Jewish Journeys is one intellectual journey very worth taking." -- Yarden Enav, Ariel University * Journal of the Roayal Anthropological Institute (N.S.) *
"Especially from the perspective of identity politics, the name that Shokeid adopted following his pioneer fieldwork points to a sense of commitment and empathy that hindsight critics have entirely missed." -- Yoram Bilu, Anthropology and Psychology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Table of ContentsPREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. PART ONE. INTRODUCTION. Chapter 1. An Anthropologist’s Work between Moving Genres. PART TWO. MOROCCAN JEWS IN ISRAEL. Chapter 2. Jewish Existence in a Berber Environment. Chapter 3. The Emergence of Pseudo-Kin Factions in Immigrant Communities. Chapter 4. The Regulation of Aggression in Daily Life: Aggressive Relationships among Moroccan Immigrants in Israel. Chapter 5. The Impact of Migration on the Moroccan Jewish Family in Israel. Chapter 6. The Decline of Personal Endowment of Atlas Mountains Religious Leaders in Israel. Chapter 7. Cultural Ethnicity in Israel: The Case of Middle Eastern Jews’ Religiosity. PART THREE. ISRAELIS IN AMERICA. Chapter 8. One-Night Stand Ethnicity: The Malaise of Israeli Americans. Chapter 9. The People of the Song. Chapter 10. From the Anthropologist’s Point of View: Studying One’s Own Tribe. Chapter 11. In the Company of American Jews: An Israeli Observer in a Lower East Side Synagogue. PART FOUR. GAY JEWS. Chapter 12. The Talmud Circle: Identities in Conflict. Chapter 13. The Women Are Coming: The Transformation of Gender Relationships in a Gay Synagogue. Chapter 14. When the Curtain Falls on a Fieldwork Project: The Last Chapter of a Gay Synagogue Study. Chapter 15. Closeted Cosmopolitans: Israeli Gays Between Center and Periphery. PART FIVE. ON METHODOLOGY. Chapter 16. Negotiating Multiple Viewpoints: The Cook, the Native, the Publisher, and the Ethnographic Text. Chapter 17. What Is There to a Name? The Ethnographer and his Moroccan Subjects in Shokeida. BIBLIOGRAPHY. GENERAL INDEX.
