Jews and Judaism in African History
"Judaism to this day still holds a very strong presence in African culture. "Jews and Judaism in African History" discusses Judaism and its impact on the African continent - an influence which many people commonly ignore despite its prominence. For thousands of years Judaism has had a strong showing on Africa, and to this day a good portion of Judaism's followers still reside there, breaking the stereotype that all Jews are white. "Jews and Judaism in African History" brings to light an important aspect of African history."--Midwest Book Review  --Midwest Book ReviewThis book fills a gap in the broad history of Jews in Africa. Hull (NYU) teaches courses on the topic, about which he marshals an impressive body of literature in succinct prose with balanced judgments, providing an eminently readable summary of key themes. Six chapters cover the chief areas of Jewish presence: classical antiquity; North Africa from Arab conquest to 1600 and then 1600-present; Jews and converts in the West/Central African slave trade; South Africa; and Central/Eastern Africa. Important themes include traders in North Africa, Jewish involvement in slave trades, the contrast of South African Jews fighting or accommodating apartheid, and intriguing histories of Ethiopian Falasha and Southern African Lemba....This will be useful for students of all levels and as a text for teaching...Recommended."---Choice Magazine   --Choice MagazineHull has provided a tremendously useful and long- overdue compendium of information about Jews in Africa. Historians of Judaism will learn much about a long-neglected locus of activities in Africa, while historians of Africa will learn much about a long-neglected group long active in Africa. Bringing both sets of scholars into conversation with one another would be a welcome gift resulting from this volume more generally. "Beyond engaging scholars, the book should make a provocative text in undergraduate-level courses in the History of Africa as well as the History of Comparative Judaisms. It may well both presage and inspire a new round of scholarship dedicated to further filling in the details of the broad outlines Hull has sketched in this overview.  --International Journal of Historical African Studies"This book fills a gap in the broad history of Jews in Africa. Hull (NYU) teaches courses on the topic, about which he marshals an impressive body of literature in succinct prose with balanced judgments, providing an eminently readable summary of key themes. Six chapters cover the chief areas of Jewish presence: classical antiquity; North Africa from Arab conquest to 1600 and then 1600-present; Jews and converts in the West/Central African slave trade; South Africa; and Central/Eastern Africa. Important themes include traders in North Africa, Jewish involvement in slave trades, the contrast of South African Jews fighting or accommodating apartheid, and intriguing histories of Ethiopian Falasha and Southern African Lemba...This will be useful for students of all levels and as a text for teaching...Highly recommended." --ChoiceHull writes in short, clear senteneces, with nary a footnote. (His comprehensive referencing is in MLA style - perhaps as a model for students to adopt in their papers?) His approach - as befits a classical historian - is basically chronological. Launching his account from classical antiquity (Elephantine, Ptolemic, and Alexandrian Egypt), Hull takes us up until the seventeenth century in North Africa, relating how Jews fared under successive Muslim regimes (Fatimid, Mamluk, Almoravid, Ottoman, etc.). He then deviates slightly from his dateline, bringing us back to the fifteenth century and the beginnings of the Atlantic Slave Trade. Hull deals with the potentially provocative topic of Jews' involvement in African slavery in a non-polemical, "just the facts" manner. Jewish participation in the construction of South Africa is the next theme, followed by Jewish immigration to eastern, central, and southern Africa. In his concluding chapter, Hull returns to the north to assess how Jews of the Maghreb and Egypt have fared from the seventeenth century until after the establishment of Israel. --Africa Quaterl"Judaism to this day still holds a very strong presence in African culture. "Jews and Judaism in African History" discusses Judaism and its impact on the African continent -- an influence which many people commonly ignore despite its prominence. For thousands of years Judaism has had a strong showing on Africa, and to this day a good portion of Judaism's followers still reside there, breaking the stereotype that all Jews are white. "Jews and Judaism in African History" brings to light an important aspect of African history."  --Midwest Book Review