Title: Jews of the Amazon : self-exile in earthly paradise /
Authors: Segal Freilich, Ariel, 1965-
Publisher: Jewish Publication Society,
Year: 1999
Subjects: Mestizos Peru Iquitos Religion.; Jewish Christians Peru Iquitos.; Jews Peru History.; Jews Identity.; Iquitos (Peru) Ethnic relations.
Abstract: "Jews of the Amazon, a fascinating look at a unique community in the heart of the Peruvian Amazon, contributes more thought to the ongoing debate of "who is a Jew?" The author, a Jewish historian and writer born in Venezuela, spent four months living in one of the most isolated cities in history, Iquitos, Peru. There he studied "Jewish mestizos," the descendants of native Amazonian women and Jewish fortune-seekers from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries." "Segal documents the community's beliefs, practices, and culture, and how the assimilation of Catholic missionary and local Amazonian culture has affected the very notion of Jewish identity for these people."--Jacket.