Suchergebnisse

Based on three decades of fieldwork throughout the developing world, Scars of Partition is the first book to systematically evaluate the long-term implications of French and British styles of colonialism and decolonization for ordinary people throughout the so-called Third World. It pays particular attention to the contemporary legacies of artificial boundaries superimposed by Britain and France that continue to divide indigenous peoples into separate postcolonial states. In so doing, it uniquely illustrates how the distinctive stamps of France and Britain continue to mark daily life along and

Novitiates to the study of Middle Eastern faiths 'know' that much of the Druze religion is—paradoxically—unknowable: Druze sacred texts are regarded as closely guarded secrets. Not even Druze themselves are granted access to these scriptures if they have not taken a vow to become normatively observant. However, the decision to become Orthodox is not subject to similar confidentiality. Interviews with over a dozen religious Druze men in Israel on their decisions for becoming uqqal (religious; 'Orthodox') elicited a variety of responses. Their decisions were inflected, in part, by their experiences as Israelis, including several years of military service and exposure to the wider Jewish society. One's identity as an Orthodox Druze is different in a Jewish state compared to a Muslim state: no religion is a nation unto itself.

As a result of its historical cleavage on the basis of language (English and French) and the continuing importance of a majoritarian Francophone province (Québec), Canada is proactive about protecting communal identity. This double context of a proactive Canadian commitment to identity and Québécois commitment to Francophonie inadvertently encourages the preservation of ethnolinguistic distinctions within the Jewish community. Diasporic Jewish experience in Canada is thus intrinsically different from what prevails in the United States, particularly as it relates to Francophone Jewry. In Montréal, the religious ideal of klal Yisrael—unity of the Jewish people— is significantly tempered by the bilingual host environment. Canadian multiculturalism serves as a buffer for the ethnic identity of Jews from North Africa, while Montréal bilingualism encourages Frenchspeaking Jews to preserve their identity as Francophones. Ideal notions thus operate in contradiction with social fact: the ethnoreligious ideal of a single Jewish people transcending all sub-group divergences versus the lived reality that Ashkenazim and Sephardim are distanced by divergent histories, traits, languages, and rites. This surrounding national (and, in Québec, sub-national) context fosters— indeed, encourages—the preservation of ethnolinguistic distinctions within the Jewish community. In this way, the Québec Jewish experience differs substantially from both Israel (where language is no longer a significant differentiator between Ashkenazim and Sephardim) and the United States. These conclusions remain salient fifty years after the Sephardic community first began its collective emigration to Québec.

As a result of its historical cleavage on the basis of language (English and French) and the continuing importance of a majoritarian Francophone province (Québec), Canada is proactive about protecting communal identity. This double context of a proactive Canadian commitment to identity and Québécois commitment to Francophonie inadvertently encourages the preservation of ethnolinguistic distinctions within the Jewish community. Diasporic Jewish experience in Canada is thus intrinsically different from what prevails in the United States, particularly as it relates to Francophone Jewry. In Montréal, the religious ideal of klal Yisrael —unity of the Jewish people— is significantly tempered by the bilingual host environment. Canadian multiculturalism serves as a buffer for the ethnic identity of Jews from North Africa, while Montréal bilingualism encourages Frenchspeaking Jews to preserve their identity as Francophones. Ideal notions thus operate in contradiction with social fact: the ethnoreligious ideal of a single Jewish people transcending all sub-group divergences versus the lived reality that Ashkenazim and Sephardim are distanced by divergent histories, traits, languages, and rites. This surrounding national (and, in Québec, sub-national) context fosters— indeed, encourages—the preservation of ethnolinguistic distinctions within the Jewish community. In this way, the Québec Jewish experience differs substantially from both Israel (where language is no longer a significant differentiator between Ashkenazim and Sephardim) and the United States. These conclusions remain salient fifty years after the Sephardic community first began its collective emigration to Québec.