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A fascinating ethnographic study... highly recommended.
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Juggling Identities is an extensive ethnography of the crypto-Jews who live deep within the Hispanic communities of the American Southwest. Critiquing scholars who challenge the cultural authenticity of these individuals, Seth D. Kunin builds a solid link between the crypto-Jews of New Mexico and their Spanish ancestors who secretly maintained their Jewish identity after converting to Catholicism, offering the strongest evidence yet of their ethnic and religious origins.
Kunin adopts a unique approach to the lives of modern crypto-Jews, concentrating primarily on their understanding of Jewish tradition and the meaning they ascribe to ritual. He illuminates the complexity of this community, in which individuals and groups perform the same practice in diverse ways. Kunin supplements his ethnographic research with broader theories concerning the nature of identity and memory, which is especially applicable to crypto-Jews, whose culture resides mainly in memory.
Kunin's work has wider implications, not only for other forms of crypto-Judaism (such as that found in the former Soviet Union) but also for the study of Judaism's fluid nature, which helps adherents adapt to new circumstances and knowledge. Kunin draws fascinating comparisons between the intricate ancestry of crypto-Jews and those of other ethnic communities living in the United States.
A fascinating ethnographic study... highly recommended.
"Seth D. Kunin's book fills a large void in the academic literature treating crypto-Judaism and is an extremely significant contribution to the field. This work should attract the attention of a wide audience, both academic and lay alike. For academicians in the fields of social science and history, as well as university libraries, this book should be a requirement for their shelves."
Introduction 1
1 Diversity and Complexity 23
2 The Case Against the Authenticity of Crypto-Judaism in New Mexico 45
3 The Case for the Authenticity of Crypto-Judaism in New Mexico 82
4 Ideal Types of Crypto-Jewish Identity 114
5 Crypto-Jewish Practice: Memory and Bricolage 146
6 A Postmodern Take on Crypto-Judaism 192
Conclusion 211
Theoretical Appendix. (Neo)-Structuralism: A Basis for Understanding the Transformative Use of Structure in Crypto-Jewish Culture 223
Notes 255
Bibliography 263
Index 269
Overview
Juggling Identities is an extensive ethnography of the crypto-Jews who live deep within the Hispanic communities of the American Southwest. Critiquing scholars who challenge the cultural authenticity of these individuals, Seth D. Kunin builds a solid link between the crypto-Jews of New Mexico and their Spanish ancestors who secretly maintained their Jewish identity after converting to Catholicism, offering the strongest evidence yet of their ethnic and religious origins.
Kunin ...