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The Idea of the Arab Jew (Day 1)

A two-day symposium on the idea of the Arab Jew.

Sunday, February 03, 2008
1:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Royce Hall 306
UCLA
Los Angeles, CA United States

The term “Arab Jew” has been used  in both scholarly and political discourse for decades, and calls to mind the memorable claim of the Iraqi-Jewish educator, Ezra Haddad  (1900-1972), that “we are Arabs before we are Jews.”   The  symposium’s outstanding group of interdisciplinary scholars will seek to assess the ongoing meaning and utility of the term “Arab Jew.”  Does the term serve as a valuable scholarly construct to describe the cultural composition and outlook of Jews from Arab  countries?  Does it have utility as a category by which people choose to identify themselves?  If so, does the category of the  Arab Jew also point toward a political stance, perhaps analogous to the notion of the “pariah” à la Bernard Lazare and Hannah Arendt?

An important and innovative feature of this gathering will be a series of graduate student panels, featuring the work of fine junior  researchers whose work stands at the cutting edge of historical and literary scholarship in the fields of Middle Eastern, Jewish, and cultural studies.  

A PDF of the conference program can be downloaded below.

Cost: Free, but reservations required.

Special Instructions

Seating is limited and advance registration is required.

Center for Jewish Studies
Tel: 310-267-5327
cjsrsvp@humnet.ucla.edu
www.cjs.ucla.edu

Download File: Arab Jewish Brochure.pdf

Sponsor(s): Center for Near Eastern Studies, Center for Jewish Studies