The Return to Al-Andalus, Disputes Over Sephardic Culture and Identity Between Arabic and Hebrew, 21.06.21
Yuval Evri offers a new genealogical reading of visions and representations of al-Andalus/Sepharad in modern Jewish discourse through an in-depth analysis of the work of Sephardi intellectual network in the turn of the twentieth century Palestine/Land of Israel, a defining period in modern Jewish history. The book traces their movement between Al-Andalus and Palestine, between the Far East and the Middle East, between Berlin, Madrid, and Jerusalem. It maps the disputes and contested images that shaped the “Sephardiness” as an enterprise of literature and translation; as an intersection of imperial networks of trade in cotton, silk, and opium; and as the exchange of manuscripts and arrays of knowledge. Instead of presenting an organized and complete picture, the author lays out a reality of fractures and ruptures in conflicting representations of attraction and repulsion within the Arab-Jewish sphere. By exploring these contested representations of Sephardi identity and culture the book re-examines some fundamental issues that emerged at the turn of the twentieth century and which still accompany us to this day: the national conflict between Jews and Palestinians, the contacts and splits between Hebrew and Arab culture and the formation of ethnic hierarchies between Ashkenazim and Mizrahim. (Magnes, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem)
Participants
Chair: Dr. Yonatan Mendel, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev; The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute
Dr. Almog Behar, Tel Aviv University
Yafa Benaya, Shalom Hartman Institute
Dr. Andre Levy, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Dr. Zahia Qundus, Tel Aviv University; Forum Transregionale Studien, Berlin