Synopses & Reviews
"Janet Jacobs enters fearlessly into the house of mirrors that is Jewish-Hispanic identity, where nothing is what it appears to be. Her ethnography is about the uses of silence and the excuses of memory."Ilan Stavans, author of
On Borrowed Words: A Memoir of Language"Janet Jacobs's book is a beautifully written, compelling account of the experiences of contemporary crypto-Jews who are struggling to locate the meanings of their various identities. I know of no other works that cover this material, and Jacobs does so in a rich finely nuanced way in which she deals with issues of family, memory, community, and belonging. I love the way she draws on such a wide variety of materials to explore this topic in a wide-ranging and impressive way."Lynn Davidman, author of Tradition in a Rootless World
Synopsis
This study of contemporary crypto-Jewsdescendants of European Jews forced to convert to Christianity during the Spanish Inquisitiontraces the group's history of clandestinely conducting their faith and their present-day efforts to reclaim their past. Janet Liebman Jacobs masterfully combines historical and social scientific theory to fashion a brilliant analysis of hidden ancestry and the transformation of religious and ethnic identity.
About the Author
Janet Liebman Jacobs is Professor of Sociology and Women's Studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder. She is the author of Divine Disenchantment: Deconverting from New Religions (1989) and Victimized Daughters: Incest and the Development of the Female Self (1994), and editor of Religion, Society, and Psychoanalysis: Readings in Contemporary Theory (1997).
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction. Crypto-Jewish Descent: An Ethnographic Study in Historical Perspective
1. Secrecy, Antisemitism, and the Dangers of Jewishness
2. Women and the Persistence of Culture: Ritual, Custom, and the Recovery of Sephardic Ancestry
3. The Self-in-Relation and the Transformation of Religious Consciousness
4. Syncretism and Faith Blending in Modern Crypto-Judaism
5. Conversion and the Rekindling of the Jewish Soul
6. Jewish Ancestry and the Social Construction of Ethnic Identity
Conclusion. Ethnic Loss and the Future of Crypto-Jewish Culture