and Rules for the Mournings (1827) illustrates. The Rural Cemetery Movement, too—a widespread mid... more and Rules for the Mournings (1827) illustrates. The Rural Cemetery Movement, too—a widespread mid-nineteenth-century phenomenon, whereby individuals and communities were increasingly driven to bury their dead outside of, or on the outskirts of, cities—led to increased rights and options for Jewish individuals and families, even as Jewish cemeteries aesthetically came to resemble non-Jewish burial spaces. The final two chapters of Dust to Dust move into twentieth-century Jewish cemetery politics. In one of the most interestingly laid out chapters, “Wives and Workingmen,” Amanik painstakingly traces a shift in the dissemination of death endowments by fraternal orders and other aid societies. Whereas widows’ pensions had once made up a central tenet of mid-nineteenth-century death-related benefits, by the early to mid-twentieth century, changing demographics as well as budgetary strains ironically cast widows into the role of a “reliable source of revenue” (119). Amanik tracks these shifts alongside the increased commodification of the funeral industry, first broadly and, eventually, if belatedly, within Jewish communities. In his final central chapter, he tracks how synagogues, for so long at the margins with regards to Jewish burial and end-of-life practices, were able to reinsert themselves as intermediaries between individuals and a Jewish funeral industry gaining a reputation as exploitative at best, unscrupulous at worst. Dust to Dust is a meticulously researched and solidly written study making the case for how powerfully end-of-life matters have continually molded the daily lives of American Jews. Throughout, New York City emerges as the cornerstone for related precedents and debates, setting the tone across Jewish communities in North America and beyond. Amanik concludes by submitting that recent changes in Jewish burial practices suggest “a return—if not a widespread revival—of deeper communal and traditional priorities on the horizon” (199). Given the hegemonic power structures at the root of earlier systems, one would hope for revolution rather than revival or return. In any case, if the latest in Jewish funeral practices are any indication, namely, socially distanced funerals and virtual shivas, the future of Jewish end-of-life care will need to orient its way through a maze of twenty-first-century environmental, political, technological, and epidemiological surprises.
Welche Auswirkungen haben die Globalisierung und eine wachsende Konsumgesellschaft auf Prozesse d... more Welche Auswirkungen haben die Globalisierung und eine wachsende Konsumgesellschaft auf Prozesse der Demokratisierung im Iran? In diesem Buch werden Konsum als Merkmal »freier« Gesellschaften und seine Vermarktung als eine Form der Rebellion gegen den »Gottesstaat« in den politisch-historischen und ökonomischen Kontext des zeitgenössischen Iran eingebettet. Ariane Sadjed zeigt, wie die Verbindung von globalem Kapitalismus mit Praktiken des offiziellen Islam eine moderne islamische Subjektivität begründet. Vor diesem Hintergrund erlaubt die fundierte Analyse des Konsumverhaltens der iranischen Mittelschicht neue und unkonventionelle Einblicke in das Verhältnis zwischen privater Alltagskultur und dem Staat.
The paper discusses the narratives of Jews from Mashhad, who were forced to convert to Islam in 1... more The paper discusses the narratives of Jews from Mashhad, who were forced to convert to Islam in 1839. The community narrative as well as academic research is dominated by a modern understanding of religious identity and religious boundaries that fail to account for the diversity of practices among the community of converts, including multiple forms of religious belonging, and the switching of identities according to time and place. Based on historical sources and interviews with descendants from the Mashhadi community, the paper traces how a particular narrative of the history of the Jews from Mashhad prevailed and which significance this narrative entails for Mashhadi community and identity until today. While the Jews from Mashhad are a rather unique case among Iranian Jews–due to the long period in which they lived as converts–their pattern of memory building reflects a general trend among Jews from the Muslim world to assimilate to modern ideas of being Jewish.
International Journal of Middle East Studies, 2021
The paper discusses the narratives of Jews from Mashhad, who were forced to convert to Islam in 1... more The paper discusses the narratives of Jews from Mashhad, who were forced to convert to Islam in 1839. The community narrative as well as academic research is dominated by a modern understanding of religious identity and religious boundaries that fail to account for the diversity of practices among the community of converts, including multiple forms of religious belonging, and the switching of identities according to time and place. Based on historical sources and interviews with descendants from the Mashhadi community, the paper traces how a particular narrative of the history of the Jews from Mashhad prevailed and which significance this narrative entails for Mashhadi community and identity until today. While the Jews from Mashhad are a rather unique case among Iranian Jews–due to the long period in which they lived as converts–their pattern of memory building reflects a general trend among Jews from the Muslim world to assimilate to modern ideas of being Jewish.
Sind säkulare Gesellschaften moderner und demokratischer als religiöse? Gibt es eine Prädispositi... more Sind säkulare Gesellschaften moderner und demokratischer als religiöse? Gibt es eine Prädisposition bestimmter Religionen zu mehr oder weniger Gewalt? Im Folgenden möchte ich zeigen, dass bereits die Formulierung solcher Fragen auf einer rigiden Essenzialisierung des Religiösen beruht. Statt das Religiöse im Zusammenhang mit anderen gesellschaftlichen Faktoren wie Politik und Ökonomie zu verstehen, wird oftmals eine irreführende Dichotomie zwischen "westlichen" und "islamischen" Gesellschaften vollzogen.
The role of religion in the formation of diaspora community and identity is at the centre of acad... more The role of religion in the formation of diaspora community and identity is at the centre of academic and popular interest. In this chapter, I will discuss how religious minorities from Iran frame their ethnic and religious identity in a discursive framework that is shaped by Islamophobia. As Iranians – even non-Muslim – they are confronted with racism because of their (ethnic) origin from the Middle East.
and Rules for the Mournings (1827) illustrates. The Rural Cemetery Movement, too—a widespread mid... more and Rules for the Mournings (1827) illustrates. The Rural Cemetery Movement, too—a widespread mid-nineteenth-century phenomenon, whereby individuals and communities were increasingly driven to bury their dead outside of, or on the outskirts of, cities—led to increased rights and options for Jewish individuals and families, even as Jewish cemeteries aesthetically came to resemble non-Jewish burial spaces. The final two chapters of Dust to Dust move into twentieth-century Jewish cemetery politics. In one of the most interestingly laid out chapters, “Wives and Workingmen,” Amanik painstakingly traces a shift in the dissemination of death endowments by fraternal orders and other aid societies. Whereas widows’ pensions had once made up a central tenet of mid-nineteenth-century death-related benefits, by the early to mid-twentieth century, changing demographics as well as budgetary strains ironically cast widows into the role of a “reliable source of revenue” (119). Amanik tracks these shifts alongside the increased commodification of the funeral industry, first broadly and, eventually, if belatedly, within Jewish communities. In his final central chapter, he tracks how synagogues, for so long at the margins with regards to Jewish burial and end-of-life practices, were able to reinsert themselves as intermediaries between individuals and a Jewish funeral industry gaining a reputation as exploitative at best, unscrupulous at worst. Dust to Dust is a meticulously researched and solidly written study making the case for how powerfully end-of-life matters have continually molded the daily lives of American Jews. Throughout, New York City emerges as the cornerstone for related precedents and debates, setting the tone across Jewish communities in North America and beyond. Amanik concludes by submitting that recent changes in Jewish burial practices suggest “a return—if not a widespread revival—of deeper communal and traditional priorities on the horizon” (199). Given the hegemonic power structures at the root of earlier systems, one would hope for revolution rather than revival or return. In any case, if the latest in Jewish funeral practices are any indication, namely, socially distanced funerals and virtual shivas, the future of Jewish end-of-life care will need to orient its way through a maze of twenty-first-century environmental, political, technological, and epidemiological surprises.
Welche Auswirkungen haben die Globalisierung und eine wachsende Konsumgesellschaft auf Prozesse d... more Welche Auswirkungen haben die Globalisierung und eine wachsende Konsumgesellschaft auf Prozesse der Demokratisierung im Iran? In diesem Buch werden Konsum als Merkmal »freier« Gesellschaften und seine Vermarktung als eine Form der Rebellion gegen den »Gottesstaat« in den politisch-historischen und ökonomischen Kontext des zeitgenössischen Iran eingebettet. Ariane Sadjed zeigt, wie die Verbindung von globalem Kapitalismus mit Praktiken des offiziellen Islam eine moderne islamische Subjektivität begründet. Vor diesem Hintergrund erlaubt die fundierte Analyse des Konsumverhaltens der iranischen Mittelschicht neue und unkonventionelle Einblicke in das Verhältnis zwischen privater Alltagskultur und dem Staat.
The paper discusses the narratives of Jews from Mashhad, who were forced to convert to Islam in 1... more The paper discusses the narratives of Jews from Mashhad, who were forced to convert to Islam in 1839. The community narrative as well as academic research is dominated by a modern understanding of religious identity and religious boundaries that fail to account for the diversity of practices among the community of converts, including multiple forms of religious belonging, and the switching of identities according to time and place. Based on historical sources and interviews with descendants from the Mashhadi community, the paper traces how a particular narrative of the history of the Jews from Mashhad prevailed and which significance this narrative entails for Mashhadi community and identity until today. While the Jews from Mashhad are a rather unique case among Iranian Jews–due to the long period in which they lived as converts–their pattern of memory building reflects a general trend among Jews from the Muslim world to assimilate to modern ideas of being Jewish.
International Journal of Middle East Studies, 2021
The paper discusses the narratives of Jews from Mashhad, who were forced to convert to Islam in 1... more The paper discusses the narratives of Jews from Mashhad, who were forced to convert to Islam in 1839. The community narrative as well as academic research is dominated by a modern understanding of religious identity and religious boundaries that fail to account for the diversity of practices among the community of converts, including multiple forms of religious belonging, and the switching of identities according to time and place. Based on historical sources and interviews with descendants from the Mashhadi community, the paper traces how a particular narrative of the history of the Jews from Mashhad prevailed and which significance this narrative entails for Mashhadi community and identity until today. While the Jews from Mashhad are a rather unique case among Iranian Jews–due to the long period in which they lived as converts–their pattern of memory building reflects a general trend among Jews from the Muslim world to assimilate to modern ideas of being Jewish.
Sind säkulare Gesellschaften moderner und demokratischer als religiöse? Gibt es eine Prädispositi... more Sind säkulare Gesellschaften moderner und demokratischer als religiöse? Gibt es eine Prädisposition bestimmter Religionen zu mehr oder weniger Gewalt? Im Folgenden möchte ich zeigen, dass bereits die Formulierung solcher Fragen auf einer rigiden Essenzialisierung des Religiösen beruht. Statt das Religiöse im Zusammenhang mit anderen gesellschaftlichen Faktoren wie Politik und Ökonomie zu verstehen, wird oftmals eine irreführende Dichotomie zwischen "westlichen" und "islamischen" Gesellschaften vollzogen.
The role of religion in the formation of diaspora community and identity is at the centre of acad... more The role of religion in the formation of diaspora community and identity is at the centre of academic and popular interest. In this chapter, I will discuss how religious minorities from Iran frame their ethnic and religious identity in a discursive framework that is shaped by Islamophobia. As Iranians – even non-Muslim – they are confronted with racism because of their (ethnic) origin from the Middle East.
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