Black Jews in Africa and the Americas (The Nathan I. Huggins Lectures)
For at least the past two centuries, the majority of Jews were of European ancestry and could be broadly categorized as Caucasian. Yet, from Ethiopia to the Yemens to China, there existed individuals and communities of “people of color” who were either Jewish or considered themselves linked to Jews culturally, even genetically. Parfitt presents a survey of some of these groups while showing how their ethnic identities were used and manipulated by various Western imperialists, missionaries, and ethnologists for their own purposes. Some groups, like the Falasha of Ethiopia, were undoubtedly Jewish. Other groups, like the Maasai of east Africa and the Ashanti of west Africa, claimed links with the ancient Hebrews, based essentially on a few of their religious practices. European racial theorists were attracted to these African links as proof of the “mongrel” origins of Jews. Missionaries found supposed remnants of the Lost Tribes of Israel. Imperialists saw a chance to differentiate culturally “superior” African groups from the “primitive” ones. Parfitt has provided a well-researched and informative study of these groups and their place in the wider debates concerning the forging of religious and ethnic identities. --Jay Freeman