Jewish Communities in Modern Asia
Jewish Communities in Modern Asia
$110.00
USDJewish settlement in Asia, beyond the Middle East, is largely a modern phenomenon. Imperial expansion and adventurism by Great Britain and Russia were the chief motors that initially drove Jewish settlers to move eastwards, in the nineteenth century, combined as this was with the rise of port cities and general development of the global economy. The new immigrants soon become centrally involved, in ways quite disproportionate to their numbers, in Asian commerce. Their role and centrality finished with the outbreak of World War II, the chaos that resulted from the fighting, and the consequent collapse of Western imperialism. This unique, ground-breaking book charts their rise and fall while pointing to signs of these communities' post-war resurgence and revival. Fourteen chapters by many of the most prominent authorities in the field, from a range of perspectives, explore questions of identity, society, and culture across several Asian locales. It is essential reading for scholars of Asian Studies and Jewish Studies.
- Provides the first comprehensive overview of the Jewish settlement of modern Asia
- Introduces a largely unknown but hugely significant chapter in modern Jewish history
- Includes chapters by many outstanding scholars in the fields of Jewish and Asian studies
- Will be mandatory reading for all in these disciplines, as well as in related areas of study
Reviews & endorsements
‘This is an excellent collection of original, engaging, and carefully researched chapters that which shed light on the multiple ways in which the history of Jewish communities intersects with the histories of colonialism and global economy. A must read for anyone interested in modern Jewish Studies and the history of modern Asia.’ Yulia Egorova, Professor of Anthropology, Durham University, author of Jews and Muslims in South Asia (2018)
‘This highly engaging and richly varied volume will be important reading for a wide range of audiences and disciplines, including global history, anthropology, and religious studies. As a whole, it resonates with work on all of the covered Asian regions and contributes fresh ways of thinking through the themes of ethnicity and race, histories of minorities, and economics.’ William Gould, Professor of Indian History, University of Leeds, author of Boundaries of Belonging Localities: Citizenship and Rights in India and Pakistan (2019)
‘A formidable feat of transnational scholarship, this volume offers a both sweeping and richly detailed historical overview of Jewish communities in modern Asia, reconstructing a mostly lost and still too little-known world of Jewish life stretching from Central Asia and Siberia to India, China, Southeast Asia, and Japan, from Bukhara to Yemen and Singapore, and even into the myths of ‘ten lost tribes’ from the eighteenth into the twenty first century. This study is a major contribution to current debates about multiple and hybrid Jewish identities in relation to histories of colonialism and postcolonialism.’ Atina Grossmann, Professor of History, Cooper Union, New York, author of Jews, Germans, and Allies (2009) and co-editor of Shelter from the Holocaust (2017)
‘Jewish Communities in Modern Asia not only surveys vividly Jewish hubs in various parts of Asia but also provides the most comprehensive and up-to-date metanarrative of the Jewish presence eastward of the much researched Middle East. At present, this is the most significant contribution to the emerging field of Jewish Asian studies.’ Ber Kotlerman, Professor of Jewish Studies, Bar Ilan University, editor of Mizrekh: Jewish Studies in the Far East (2009–11)
‘With the growth of scholarly interest in the subject of historical and emerging Jewish communities in Asia and the Pacific region, this excellent volume will be more than welcome.’ Tudor Parfitt, Distinguished University Professor, Florida International University, author of Judaising Movements: Studies in the Margins of Judaism (2013) and The Lost Tribes of Israel (2002)
Product details
August 2023Hardback
9781009162586
446 pages
235 × 156 × 24 mm
0.83kg
Available
Table of Contents
- 1. Jewish communities in modern Asia: background, significance and main questions Rotem Kowner
- Part I. Central and North Asia: Old and new communities in Russia's shadow
- 2. The end of the 'Jewish Triangle': geography and mobility in Central Asia Thomas Loy
- 3. The Soviet wartime evacuation to Central Asia and the Jews: cultural encounters and literary responses Anna P. Ronell
- 4. Frontier Jews: the communities of Siberia and their architecture Anna Berezin and Vladimir Levine
- Part II. South Asia: Identity and culture in British and independent India
- 5. Jewish communities in the Indian subcontinent: torn between Indian nationalism and Zionism Nathan Katz, Joan G. Roland, and Ithamar Theodor
- 6. Jewish servicemen in the Indian subcontinent: a unique Asian tradition Ran Amitai
- 7. Cultural exchange and religious guidance along the shores of the Arabian Sea: Yemenite Jews in India and Indian Jews in Yemen Menashe Anzi
- Part III. Southeast Asia: Colonial legacies and emerging communities
- 8. The Jews of Singapore: a community founded on the Opium trade Jonathan Goldstein
- 9. From a colonial settlement to a new identity: the rise, fall and re-emergence of the Jewish community in Indonesia Leonard Chrysostomos Epafras and Rotem Kowner
- 10. Decolonization and its aftermath: the fate of the Baghdadi-Jewish diaspora in British Asia Amos Wei Wang Lim
- Part IV. East Asia: Communities and strife in the sinosphere
- 11. The Jews of Shanghai: the emergence, fall and resurgence of East Asia's largest Jewish community Rotem Kowner and Xu Xin
- 12. The Jewish community of Harbin: its meteoric rise and fall under the shade of three empires Joshua Fogel
- 13. Taiwan: a Postwar Jewish Community without Deep Roots Don Shapiro
- 14. Jews in Japan: the winding road of a business community Rotem Kowner and William Gervase Clarence-Smith
- Part V. Imaginary Asia: Lost peoples and invisible communities
- 15. Finding Lost Jews in Asia: the search for restored authenticity and the rewriting of Zionist history Gideon Elazar
- 16. Jewish communities in Modern Asia: underlying commonalities, demographic features, and distinctive characteristics Rotem Kowner.
