Mapping Jewish Identities

Mapping Jewish Identities
Author: Laurence J. Silberstein
Publisher: NYU Press
Total Pages: 379
Release: 2000-07
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0814797695

Is Jewish identity flourishing or in decline? Community leaders and scholarly researchers continually seek to determine the attitudes, beliefs, and activities that best measure Jewish identity. At issue, according to these studies, is the very survival of the Jewish community itself. But such studies rarely ask what actually is being examined when we attempt to assess "Jewish identity" or any identity. Most tend to assume that identity is a preexisting, relatively fixed frame of reference reflecting shared cultural and historical experiences. Drawing on recent work in such fields as cultural studies, poststructuralist theory, postmodern philosophy, and feminist theory, Mapping Jewish Identities challenges this premise. Contesting conventional approaches to Jewish identity, contributors argue that Jewish identity should be conceptualized as an ongoing dynamic process of "becoming" in response to changing cultural and social conditions rather than as a stable defining body of traits. Contributors, including Daniel Boyarin, Laura Levitt, Adi Ophir, and Gordon Bearn, examine such topics as American Jews' desires to connect with a lost immigrant past through photography, the complicated function of the Holocaust in the identity formation of contemporary Jews, the impact of the struggle with the Palestinians on Israeli group identity construction, and the ways in which repressed voices such as those of women, Mizrahim, and Israeli Arabs have changed our ways of thinking about Jewish and Israeli identity.

Mapping Migration, Identity, and Space

Mapping Migration, Identity, and Space
Author: Tabea Linhard
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 372
Release: 2018-07-14
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 3319779567

This interdisciplinary collection of essays focuses on the ways in which movements of people across natural, political, and cultural boundaries shape identities that are inexorably linked to the geographical space that individuals on the move cross, inhabit, and leave behind. As conflicts over identities and space continue to erupt on a regular basis, this book reads the relationship between migration, identity, and space from a fresh and innovative perspective.

Jewish Identities in East and Southeast Asia

Jewish Identities in East and Southeast Asia
Author: Jonathan Goldstein
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Total Pages: 292
Release: 2015-11-13
Genre: History
ISBN: 3110395460

The Jewish communities of East and Southeast Asia display an impressive diversity. Jonathan Goldstein’s book covers the period from 1750 and focuses on seven of the area’s largest cities and trading emporia: Singapore, Manila, Taipei, Harbin, Shanghai, Rangoon, and Surabaya. The book isolates five factors which contributed to the formation of transnational, multiethnic, and multicultural identity: memory, colonialism, regional nationalism, socialism, and Zionism. It emphasizes those factors which preserved specifically Judaic aspects of identity. Drawing extensively on interviews conducted in all seven cities as well as governmental, institutional, commercial, and personal archives, censuses, and cemetery data, the book provides overviews of communal life and intimate portraits of leading individuals and families. Jews were engaged in everything from business and finance to revolutionary activity. Some collaborated with the Japanese while others confronted them on the battlefield. The book attempts to treat fully and fairly the wide spectrum of Jewish experience ranging from that of the ultra-Orthodox to the completely secular.

Mapping Humanity

Mapping Humanity
Author: Joshua Z. Rappoport
Publisher: BenBella Books
Total Pages: 249
Release: 2020-07-07
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1950665259

"A good companion for those with a science background interested in learning more about human genetics." —Booklist Thanks to the popularity of personal genetic testing services, it's now easier than ever to get information about our own unique DNA—but who does this information really benefit? And, as genome editing and gene therapy transform the healthcare landscape, what do we gain—and what might we give up in return? Inside each of your cells is the nucleus, a small structure that contains all of the genetic information encoded by the DNA inside, your genome. Not long ago, the first human genome was sequenced at a cost of nearly $3 billion; now, this same test can be done for about $1,000. This new accessibility of genome sequence information creates huge potential for advances in how we understand and treat disease, among other things. It also raises significant concerns regarding ethics and personal privacy. In Mapping Humanity: How Modern Genetics Is Changing Criminal Justice, Personalized Medicine, and Our Identities, cellular biology expert Joshua Z. Rappoport provides a detailed look at how the explosion in genetic information as a result of cutting-edge technologies is changing our lives and our world. Inside, discover: • An in-depth look at how your personal genome creates the unique individual that you are • How doctors are using DNA sequencing to identify the underlying genetic causes of disease • Why the field of gene therapy offers amazing potential for medical breakthroughs—and why it's taking so long • The fantastic potential—and troubling concerns—surrounding genome editing • The real impact—and validity—of popular personal genetic testing products, such as 23andMe • Details of how molecular biology and DNA are changing the criminal justice system • Facts you should know about Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) Throughout, in compelling, accessible prose, Rappoport explores the societal, ethical, and economic impacts of this new era. Offering a framework for balancing the potential risks and benefits of genetic information technologies and genetic engineering, Mapping Humanity is an indispensable guide to navigating the possibilities and perils of our gene-centric future.

French and Jewish

French and Jewish
Author: Nadia Malinovich
Publisher: Liverpool University Press
Total Pages: 293
Release: 2007-11-29
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1800345399

This study of Jewish cultural innovation in early twentieth-century France highlights the complexity and ambivalence of Jewish identity and self-definition in the modern world. This stimulating and original book makes a major contribution to our understanding of modern Jewish history as well as to the history of the Jews in France and to the larger discourse about modern Jewish identities.

Identity and Territory

Identity and Territory
Author: Eyal Ben-Eliyahu
Publisher: University of California Press
Total Pages: 210
Release: 2019-04-30
Genre: History
ISBN: 0520293606

Throughout history, the relationship between Jews and their land has been a vibrant, much-debated topic within the Jewish world and in international political discourse. Identity and Territory explores how ancient conceptions of Israel—of both the land itself and its shifting frontiers and borders—have played a decisive role in forming national and religious identities across the millennia. Through the works of Second Temple period Jews and rabbinic literature, Eyal Ben-Eliyahu examines the role of territorial status, boundaries, mental maps, and holy sites, drawing comparisons to popular Jewish and Christian perceptions of space. Showing how space defines nationhood and how Jewish identity influences perceptions of space, Ben-Eliyahu uncovers varied understandings of the land that resonate with contemporary views of the relationship between territory and ideology.

Breast Cancer Gene Research and Medical Practices

Breast Cancer Gene Research and Medical Practices
Author: Sahra Gibbon
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 248
Release: 2014-03-05
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1135925453

The discovery of the two inherited susceptibility genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 in the mid-1990s created the possibility of predictive genetic testing and led to the establishment of specific medical programmes for those at high risk of developing breast cancer in the UK, US and Europe. The book provides a coherent structure for examining the diversity of practices and discourses that surround developments linked to BRCA genetics, and to the evolving field of genetics more broadly. It will be of interest to students and scholars of anthropology, sociology, history of science, STS, public health and bioethics. Chapter 8 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 3.0 license.

Catalan Maps and Jewish Books

Catalan Maps and Jewish Books
Author: Katrin Kogman-Appel
Publisher: Brepols Publishers
Total Pages: 358
Release: 2020
Genre: Cartography
ISBN: 9782503585482

This book presents a small chapter in the intellectual history of the Jews of Majorca. Its key figure is Elisha ben Abraham Bevenisti Cresques (1325-1387) a cartographer in the service of King Peter IV of Aragon and a scribe and illuminator of Hebrew books. Elisha Cresques' career evolves at a point in time when some of the most fascinating threads of methodological interests relevant to intellectual history meet. He emerges as a hub, so to speak, where mapmaking converged with scribal work, miniature painting with scientific knowledge, and the culture of a minority with that of the majority. How he was able to negotiate his patron's expectations and his own cultural identity and frame them within the political, cultural, and religious discourses of his time is the subject of this book.

Maps and Meaning

Maps and Meaning
Author: Nancy H. Wiener
Publisher: Fortress Press
Total Pages: 192
Release: 2014-08-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1451487541

Maps and Meaning is relevant to those looking for a fresh perspective on biblical narratives related to the role of the priest, patients, soldiers, and others who spend time “outside the camp.” The authors consider the geographical, interpersonal, temporal, and spiritual transitions individuals experience when they move “in” and “out of the camp” and the impact their time outside the camp has on family and community. The authors propose a societal approach that embraces the inevitability of life’s ebbs and flow and that draws maps to facilitate these journeys.

Jewish American Identity and Erasure in Pop Art

Jewish American Identity and Erasure in Pop Art
Author: Melissa L. Mednicov
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 228
Release: 2024-03-05
Genre: Art
ISBN: 1003857027

This volume focuses on Jewish American identity within the context of Pop art in New York City during the sixties to reveal the multivalent identities and selves often ignored in Pop scholarship. Melissa L. Mednicov establishes her study within the context of prominent Jewish artists, dealers, institutions, and collectors in New York City in the Pop sixties. Mednicov incorporates the historiography of Jewish identity in Pop art—the ways by which identity is named or silenced—to better understand how Pop art made, or marked, different modes of identity in the sixties. By looking at a nexus of the art world in this period and the ways in which Jewish identity was registered or negated, Mednicov is able to further consider questions about the ways mass culture influenced Pop art and its participants—and, to a larger extent, formed further modes of identity. The book will be of interest to scholars working in art history, Jewish studies, and American studies.