Marcy Brink-Danan (PhD 2005, Stanford) specializes in linguistic and cultural anthropology, politics, religion and secularism. Her work appears in American Anthropologist, Anthropological Quarterly, PoLAR, Language & Communication, edited books and a monograph called “Jewish Life in 21st Century Turkey: The Other Side of Tolerance.” Brink-Danan was on the faculty at Brown University before joining the Sociology and Anthropology Department at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, where she now lives. She has been thinking a lot lately about scale, linguistic metaphors in cultural theory and night ethnography. Supervisors: Carol Delaney, Aron Rodrigue, Miyako Inoue, and Marco Jacquemet Address: https://www.clippings.me/marcybrink
Taking ideas about interfaith communication among stakeholders in the British “God Debate”
as an ... more Taking ideas about interfaith communication among stakeholders in the British “God Debate” as an illustrative case, I propose that the translation metaphor, widely adopted across disciplines, might productively be replaced by a different metaphor, “translanguaging” (García and Wei 2013). I suggest that the model of sociolinguistic relations offered by translanguaging nicely addresses the genealogical inseparability of “religious” language and “secular” language. This working replacement for the translation metaphor invites new kinds of philosophical and anthropological engagements with difference and may be extended to the analysis of other phenomena that demand non-binary thought, such as transculturalism, transgenderism and transnationalism. [translation metaphor, translanguaging, Britain, religion, interfaith dialogue]
Based on linguistic anthropological research conducted among British interfaith dialogue
advocat... more Based on linguistic anthropological research conducted among British interfaith dialogue
advocates, this article analyzes the changing value of “diversity talk” in the UK, highlighting
new understandings of global religion as a source of communication anxiety. Paradoxically,
British interfaith dialogue advocates promote Taylorist linguistic prescriptions for religious
diversity management across the globe, yet flout the social stratification inherent in
managerial logic. I analyze these globally shared techniques, revealing advocates’ desire to
upscale linguistic prescriptions from the vertical authority of clergy, local and state politicians
to what they see as the highest scale: the global ecumene.
Ruth Behar’s oeuvre consistently deals with the issue of looking as an anthropological concern. T... more Ruth Behar’s oeuvre consistently deals with the issue of looking as an anthropological concern. This interview explores the way anthropology in general, and Behar in particular, looks at and for people. The conversation explores topics of primary interest to this journal’s readers, including the advantages and disadvantages of different representational strategies, the relationships of various media to anthropological subjects and to each other, and issues of pedagogy, authorship, and artistic choices. [looking, media, photography, representation, visuality]
In this article, I discuss the anthropological value of focusing on ontological processes in whic... more In this article, I discuss the anthropological value of focusing on ontological processes in which seemingly local, native, or indigenous people are reclassified as foreigners. Building on theories of language and time, I show, through the ethnographic example of Jewish naming in Istanbul, how names come to signify foreignness. I also explore naming as a process through which the subjects of reclassification themselves understand present-day ontologies as historically informed and context dependent. By studying moments of categorical reassignment, I detail the social semiotic processes that drive the classification of signs as indices of belonging or exclusion. Anthropologists increasingly study military, juridical, and economic ontologies that reorder, relocate, and restrict human (and nonhuman) groups. I illuminate a quieter space, that of naming, through which classifications are made and undone.
If, as is widely argued, we live in a cosmopolitan moment, the processes of cosmopolitanization a... more If, as is widely argued, we live in a cosmopolitan moment, the processes of cosmopolitanization are sometimes fraught with danger. Describing contexts in which cosmopolitanism is censored, this article considers recursive erasures of difference in Turkish-Jewish architecture, bodily marking, and language that highlight this sense of dangerous cosmopolitanism. This scenario complicates the popular notion that cosmopolitanism requires public nomination of difference; instead, cosmopolitanism is sometimes observable only by accounting for knowledge of what should be kept private. Without a fundamental examination of the production and interpretation of knowledge of difference, reckonings of lived cosmopolitanism are incomplete.
This article describes how the election and investiture of a chief rabbi in 2002 created a unique... more This article describes how the election and investiture of a chief rabbi in 2002 created a unique space for Turkish Jews to debate the meaning of democracy. I document current Turkish Jewish discourses about democracy by combining ethnographic observations of the election season with an analysis of the production and reception of local narratives (speeches, news articles, and interviews) about the process. I then analyze the election and inauguration as a “politics of presence” in which democracy is seen not only as a practice through which to debate ideas but a discursive move to represent collective difference in the public sphere. As such, this article contributes to discussions about the performative nature of minority politics and how these alternative discursive spheres relate to the broader contexts in which they occur.
This paper analyzes the peregrinations of recent Jewish women émigrés from Turkey. Due to perceiv... more This paper analyzes the peregrinations of recent Jewish women émigrés from Turkey. Due to perceived increases in anti-Semitism and sharp demographic decline among Jews in Turkey, many Turkish Jewish women today go long distances in search of love. Based on initial fieldwork in Istanbul, reunions with Turkish Jewish friends post-emigration and follow-up interviews, I argue that, even in light of their active global pursuits, Turkish Jewish women are ambivalent about the role of choice and chance in their own life decisions and geographic trajectories.
Amour, hasard et longues distances. Choix et chance dans les récits d’émigration des femmes turques
Cet article analyse les pérégrinations de femmes juives nouvellement émigrées de Turquie. En raison du développement de l’antisémitisme et du déclin démographique parmi les juifs, de nombreuses femmes turques juives voyagent au loin à la recherche de l’amour. S’appuyant sur du travail de terrain conduit à Istanbul, des rencontres avec des amies après qu’elles aient migré et un suivi d’entretiens, l’auteur fait l’hypothèse que l’attitude de ces femmes est très ambivalente en ce qui concerne le poids du choix et du hasard dans leur décision migratoire.
Der Beitrag untersucht die Wanderungsbewegungen jüdischer Frauen, die erst kürzlich aus der Türkei ausgewandert sind. Denn aufgrund von Antisemitismus und demographischem Wandel, nehmen viele türkische Jüdinnen auf der Suche nach der Liebe weite Reisen auf sich. Der Artikel stützt sich auf Beobachtungen aus Istanbul sowie auf Interviews, die mit Freundinnen der ausgewanderten Frauen geführt wurden und vertritt die Hypothese, dass es sich bei der Migrationsentscheidung um eine sehr ambivalente Haltung der Frauen handelt, die sowohl auf Überlegungen als auch auf Zufall basiert.
This article shows how the semiotics of a language, that is, what a language signifies, is a nego... more This article shows how the semiotics of a language, that is, what a language signifies, is a negotiated process observable by following online debates. Indeed, the adoption of new media seems to instigate, if not intensify and revitalize, these debates. I analyze an electronically mediated discussion group stating its goals as the maintenance, revitalization and standardization of Ladino (Judeo-Spanish). Employing theories from linguistic anthropology, I show how language ideologies map out the boundaries of what I call “Ladinoland” by insisting on particular meanings of Ladino. Group members assign the language these meanings through debates about Ladino’s glottonym, recursive boundary marking between Ladino native and novice users, and erasures of linguistic elements perceived to be non-standard.
PoLAR: Political and Legal Anthropology …, Jan 1, 2008
In many parts of the world, the so-called informal economy is thriving and the institu-tions of t... more In many parts of the world, the so-called informal economy is thriving and the institu-tions of the nation-state are often unable to exercise control over economic networks that transgress its boundaries in ever-increasing intensity and frequency. Criminal networks are said to ...
Abstract: Jews in Istanbul have learned and lost languages, moved between neighborhoods, emigrate... more Abstract: Jews in Istanbul have learned and lost languages, moved between neighborhoods, emigrated from and returned to live in a city which itself has undergone major economic, architectural and population transformations. Istanbul's Jewish community has ...
Taking ideas about interfaith communication among stakeholders in the British “God Debate”
as an ... more Taking ideas about interfaith communication among stakeholders in the British “God Debate” as an illustrative case, I propose that the translation metaphor, widely adopted across disciplines, might productively be replaced by a different metaphor, “translanguaging” (García and Wei 2013). I suggest that the model of sociolinguistic relations offered by translanguaging nicely addresses the genealogical inseparability of “religious” language and “secular” language. This working replacement for the translation metaphor invites new kinds of philosophical and anthropological engagements with difference and may be extended to the analysis of other phenomena that demand non-binary thought, such as transculturalism, transgenderism and transnationalism. [translation metaphor, translanguaging, Britain, religion, interfaith dialogue]
Based on linguistic anthropological research conducted among British interfaith dialogue
advocat... more Based on linguistic anthropological research conducted among British interfaith dialogue
advocates, this article analyzes the changing value of “diversity talk” in the UK, highlighting
new understandings of global religion as a source of communication anxiety. Paradoxically,
British interfaith dialogue advocates promote Taylorist linguistic prescriptions for religious
diversity management across the globe, yet flout the social stratification inherent in
managerial logic. I analyze these globally shared techniques, revealing advocates’ desire to
upscale linguistic prescriptions from the vertical authority of clergy, local and state politicians
to what they see as the highest scale: the global ecumene.
Ruth Behar’s oeuvre consistently deals with the issue of looking as an anthropological concern. T... more Ruth Behar’s oeuvre consistently deals with the issue of looking as an anthropological concern. This interview explores the way anthropology in general, and Behar in particular, looks at and for people. The conversation explores topics of primary interest to this journal’s readers, including the advantages and disadvantages of different representational strategies, the relationships of various media to anthropological subjects and to each other, and issues of pedagogy, authorship, and artistic choices. [looking, media, photography, representation, visuality]
In this article, I discuss the anthropological value of focusing on ontological processes in whic... more In this article, I discuss the anthropological value of focusing on ontological processes in which seemingly local, native, or indigenous people are reclassified as foreigners. Building on theories of language and time, I show, through the ethnographic example of Jewish naming in Istanbul, how names come to signify foreignness. I also explore naming as a process through which the subjects of reclassification themselves understand present-day ontologies as historically informed and context dependent. By studying moments of categorical reassignment, I detail the social semiotic processes that drive the classification of signs as indices of belonging or exclusion. Anthropologists increasingly study military, juridical, and economic ontologies that reorder, relocate, and restrict human (and nonhuman) groups. I illuminate a quieter space, that of naming, through which classifications are made and undone.
If, as is widely argued, we live in a cosmopolitan moment, the processes of cosmopolitanization a... more If, as is widely argued, we live in a cosmopolitan moment, the processes of cosmopolitanization are sometimes fraught with danger. Describing contexts in which cosmopolitanism is censored, this article considers recursive erasures of difference in Turkish-Jewish architecture, bodily marking, and language that highlight this sense of dangerous cosmopolitanism. This scenario complicates the popular notion that cosmopolitanism requires public nomination of difference; instead, cosmopolitanism is sometimes observable only by accounting for knowledge of what should be kept private. Without a fundamental examination of the production and interpretation of knowledge of difference, reckonings of lived cosmopolitanism are incomplete.
This article describes how the election and investiture of a chief rabbi in 2002 created a unique... more This article describes how the election and investiture of a chief rabbi in 2002 created a unique space for Turkish Jews to debate the meaning of democracy. I document current Turkish Jewish discourses about democracy by combining ethnographic observations of the election season with an analysis of the production and reception of local narratives (speeches, news articles, and interviews) about the process. I then analyze the election and inauguration as a “politics of presence” in which democracy is seen not only as a practice through which to debate ideas but a discursive move to represent collective difference in the public sphere. As such, this article contributes to discussions about the performative nature of minority politics and how these alternative discursive spheres relate to the broader contexts in which they occur.
This paper analyzes the peregrinations of recent Jewish women émigrés from Turkey. Due to perceiv... more This paper analyzes the peregrinations of recent Jewish women émigrés from Turkey. Due to perceived increases in anti-Semitism and sharp demographic decline among Jews in Turkey, many Turkish Jewish women today go long distances in search of love. Based on initial fieldwork in Istanbul, reunions with Turkish Jewish friends post-emigration and follow-up interviews, I argue that, even in light of their active global pursuits, Turkish Jewish women are ambivalent about the role of choice and chance in their own life decisions and geographic trajectories.
Amour, hasard et longues distances. Choix et chance dans les récits d’émigration des femmes turques
Cet article analyse les pérégrinations de femmes juives nouvellement émigrées de Turquie. En raison du développement de l’antisémitisme et du déclin démographique parmi les juifs, de nombreuses femmes turques juives voyagent au loin à la recherche de l’amour. S’appuyant sur du travail de terrain conduit à Istanbul, des rencontres avec des amies après qu’elles aient migré et un suivi d’entretiens, l’auteur fait l’hypothèse que l’attitude de ces femmes est très ambivalente en ce qui concerne le poids du choix et du hasard dans leur décision migratoire.
Der Beitrag untersucht die Wanderungsbewegungen jüdischer Frauen, die erst kürzlich aus der Türkei ausgewandert sind. Denn aufgrund von Antisemitismus und demographischem Wandel, nehmen viele türkische Jüdinnen auf der Suche nach der Liebe weite Reisen auf sich. Der Artikel stützt sich auf Beobachtungen aus Istanbul sowie auf Interviews, die mit Freundinnen der ausgewanderten Frauen geführt wurden und vertritt die Hypothese, dass es sich bei der Migrationsentscheidung um eine sehr ambivalente Haltung der Frauen handelt, die sowohl auf Überlegungen als auch auf Zufall basiert.
This article shows how the semiotics of a language, that is, what a language signifies, is a nego... more This article shows how the semiotics of a language, that is, what a language signifies, is a negotiated process observable by following online debates. Indeed, the adoption of new media seems to instigate, if not intensify and revitalize, these debates. I analyze an electronically mediated discussion group stating its goals as the maintenance, revitalization and standardization of Ladino (Judeo-Spanish). Employing theories from linguistic anthropology, I show how language ideologies map out the boundaries of what I call “Ladinoland” by insisting on particular meanings of Ladino. Group members assign the language these meanings through debates about Ladino’s glottonym, recursive boundary marking between Ladino native and novice users, and erasures of linguistic elements perceived to be non-standard.
PoLAR: Political and Legal Anthropology …, Jan 1, 2008
In many parts of the world, the so-called informal economy is thriving and the institu-tions of t... more In many parts of the world, the so-called informal economy is thriving and the institu-tions of the nation-state are often unable to exercise control over economic networks that transgress its boundaries in ever-increasing intensity and frequency. Criminal networks are said to ...
Abstract: Jews in Istanbul have learned and lost languages, moved between neighborhoods, emigrate... more Abstract: Jews in Istanbul have learned and lost languages, moved between neighborhoods, emigrated from and returned to live in a city which itself has undergone major economic, architectural and population transformations. Istanbul's Jewish community has ...
Turkey is famed for a history of tolerance toward minorities, and there is a growing nostalgia fo... more Turkey is famed for a history of tolerance toward minorities, and there is a growing nostalgia for the “Ottoman mosaic.” In this richly detailed study, Marcy Brink-Danan examines what it means for Jews to live as a tolerated minority in contemporary Istanbul. Often portrayed as the “good minority,” Jews in Turkey celebrate their long history in the region, yet they are subject to discrimination and their institutions are regularly threatened and periodically attacked. Brink-Danan explores the contradictions and gaps in the popular ideology of Turkey as a land of tolerance, describing how Turkish Jews manage the tensions between cosmopolitanism and patriotism, difference as Jews and sameness as Turkish citizens, tolerance and violence.
World Jewry today is concentrated in the US and Israel, and while distinctive Judaic approaches a... more World Jewry today is concentrated in the US and Israel, and while distinctive Judaic approaches and practices have evolved in each society, parallels also exist. This volume offers studies of substantive and creative aspects of Jewish belonging. While research in Israel on Judaism has stressed orthodox or “extreme” versions of religiosity, linked to institutional life and politics, moderate and less systematized expressions of Jewish belonging are overlooked. This volume explores the fluid and dynamic nature of identity building among Jews and the many issues that cut across different Jewish groupings. An important contribution to scholarship on contemporary Jewry, it reveals the often unrecognized dynamism in new forms of Jewish identification and affiliation in Israel and in the Diaspora.
Looking at the globalization, urban regeneration, arts events and cultural spectacles, this book ... more Looking at the globalization, urban regeneration, arts events and cultural spectacles, this book considers a city not until now included in the global city debate.
Divided into five parts, each preceded by an editorial introduction, this book is an interdisciplinary study of an iconic city, a city facing conflicting social, political and cultural pressures in its search for a place in Europe and on the world stage in the twenty-first century.
The Tam Institute for Jewish Studies at Emory University is pleased to announce a two day intern... more The Tam Institute for Jewish Studies at Emory University is pleased to announce a two day international workshop (March 18-19, 2015) convened by Prof. Don Seeman and Dr. Shlomo Guzmen: "Jews, Text and Ethnography." This workshop will address critical theoretical and methodological issues in the anthropology of Judaism as well as comparative issues raised by the anthropology of textuality in Christianity and Islam. Participants include Jonathan Boyarin (Cornell University) Philip Wexler (the Hebrew University of Jerusalem), Ayala Fader (Fordham), Marcy Brink Danan (The Hebrew University), Don Seeman (Emory) Alan Brill (Seton Hall), Simon Dein (University College, London), James Bielo (Miami University) and Sam Cooper (Bar-Ilan). More Details to Follow.
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Papers by Marcy Brink-Danan
as an illustrative case, I propose that the translation metaphor, widely adopted across
disciplines, might productively be replaced by a different metaphor, “translanguaging”
(García and Wei 2013). I suggest that the model of sociolinguistic relations offered by
translanguaging nicely addresses the genealogical inseparability of “religious” language and
“secular” language. This working replacement for the translation metaphor invites new kinds
of philosophical and anthropological engagements with difference and may be extended to the
analysis of other phenomena that demand non-binary thought, such as transculturalism,
transgenderism and transnationalism. [translation metaphor, translanguaging, Britain,
religion, interfaith dialogue]
advocates, this article analyzes the changing value of “diversity talk” in the UK, highlighting
new understandings of global religion as a source of communication anxiety. Paradoxically,
British interfaith dialogue advocates promote Taylorist linguistic prescriptions for religious
diversity management across the globe, yet flout the social stratification inherent in
managerial logic. I analyze these globally shared techniques, revealing advocates’ desire to
upscale linguistic prescriptions from the vertical authority of clergy, local and state politicians
to what they see as the highest scale: the global ecumene.
explores the way anthropology in general, and Behar in particular, looks at and for people. The conversation explores
topics of primary interest to this journal’s readers, including the advantages and disadvantages of different
representational strategies, the relationships of various media to anthropological subjects and to each other, and
issues of pedagogy, authorship, and artistic choices. [looking, media, photography, representation, visuality]
Keywords
Turkey, Diaspora, migration, demographics, cosmopolitanism
Amour, hasard et longues distances. Choix et chance dans les récits d’émigration des femmes turques
Cet article analyse les pérégrinations de femmes juives nouvellement émigrées de Turquie. En raison du développement de l’antisémitisme et du déclin démographique parmi les juifs, de nombreuses femmes turques juives voyagent au loin à la recherche de l’amour. S’appuyant sur du travail de terrain conduit à Istanbul, des rencontres avec des amies après qu’elles aient migré et un suivi d’entretiens, l’auteur fait l’hypothèse que l’attitude de ces femmes est très ambivalente en ce qui concerne le poids du choix et du hasard dans leur décision migratoire.
Mots clés
Turquie, Diaspora, migration, démographie, cosmopolitanisme
Liebe, Glück und weite Reisen
Der Beitrag untersucht die Wanderungsbewegungen jüdischer Frauen, die erst kürzlich aus der Türkei ausgewandert sind. Denn aufgrund von Antisemitismus und demographischem Wandel, nehmen viele türkische Jüdinnen auf der Suche nach der Liebe weite Reisen auf sich. Der Artikel stützt sich auf Beobachtungen aus Istanbul sowie auf Interviews, die mit Freundinnen der ausgewanderten Frauen geführt wurden und vertritt die Hypothese, dass es sich bei der Migrationsentscheidung um eine sehr ambivalente Haltung der Frauen handelt, die sowohl auf Überlegungen als auch auf Zufall basiert.
Schlagwörter
Türkei, Diaspora, Migration, Demographie, Kosmopolitismus
as an illustrative case, I propose that the translation metaphor, widely adopted across
disciplines, might productively be replaced by a different metaphor, “translanguaging”
(García and Wei 2013). I suggest that the model of sociolinguistic relations offered by
translanguaging nicely addresses the genealogical inseparability of “religious” language and
“secular” language. This working replacement for the translation metaphor invites new kinds
of philosophical and anthropological engagements with difference and may be extended to the
analysis of other phenomena that demand non-binary thought, such as transculturalism,
transgenderism and transnationalism. [translation metaphor, translanguaging, Britain,
religion, interfaith dialogue]
advocates, this article analyzes the changing value of “diversity talk” in the UK, highlighting
new understandings of global religion as a source of communication anxiety. Paradoxically,
British interfaith dialogue advocates promote Taylorist linguistic prescriptions for religious
diversity management across the globe, yet flout the social stratification inherent in
managerial logic. I analyze these globally shared techniques, revealing advocates’ desire to
upscale linguistic prescriptions from the vertical authority of clergy, local and state politicians
to what they see as the highest scale: the global ecumene.
explores the way anthropology in general, and Behar in particular, looks at and for people. The conversation explores
topics of primary interest to this journal’s readers, including the advantages and disadvantages of different
representational strategies, the relationships of various media to anthropological subjects and to each other, and
issues of pedagogy, authorship, and artistic choices. [looking, media, photography, representation, visuality]
Keywords
Turkey, Diaspora, migration, demographics, cosmopolitanism
Amour, hasard et longues distances. Choix et chance dans les récits d’émigration des femmes turques
Cet article analyse les pérégrinations de femmes juives nouvellement émigrées de Turquie. En raison du développement de l’antisémitisme et du déclin démographique parmi les juifs, de nombreuses femmes turques juives voyagent au loin à la recherche de l’amour. S’appuyant sur du travail de terrain conduit à Istanbul, des rencontres avec des amies après qu’elles aient migré et un suivi d’entretiens, l’auteur fait l’hypothèse que l’attitude de ces femmes est très ambivalente en ce qui concerne le poids du choix et du hasard dans leur décision migratoire.
Mots clés
Turquie, Diaspora, migration, démographie, cosmopolitanisme
Liebe, Glück und weite Reisen
Der Beitrag untersucht die Wanderungsbewegungen jüdischer Frauen, die erst kürzlich aus der Türkei ausgewandert sind. Denn aufgrund von Antisemitismus und demographischem Wandel, nehmen viele türkische Jüdinnen auf der Suche nach der Liebe weite Reisen auf sich. Der Artikel stützt sich auf Beobachtungen aus Istanbul sowie auf Interviews, die mit Freundinnen der ausgewanderten Frauen geführt wurden und vertritt die Hypothese, dass es sich bei der Migrationsentscheidung um eine sehr ambivalente Haltung der Frauen handelt, die sowohl auf Überlegungen als auch auf Zufall basiert.
Schlagwörter
Türkei, Diaspora, Migration, Demographie, Kosmopolitismus
Divided into five parts, each preceded by an editorial introduction, this book is an interdisciplinary study of an iconic city, a city facing conflicting social, political and cultural pressures in its search for a place in Europe and on the world stage in the twenty-first century.