Marriage and Mourning at the Edge of the Jewish World: Ritual Practice among Central Asia's Bukharan Jews
Religions of the Silk Road Lecture by Alanna E. Cooper, PhD
Monday, May 21, 2012
2:00 PM - 3:30 PM
10383 Bunche Hall
UCLA
Over the course of their 2,500-year diaspora experience, Jews have scattered across the far reaches of the globe. While preserving the sacred texts and practices that they hold in common, they have also adapted to the various cultures amongst which they lived. This lecture presents lively and detailed descriptions of Bukharan Jewish wedding rituals and mourning practices to illuminate the creative ways in which they adapted to the changing Central Asian social landscape in which they lived.
Alanna Cooper, an anthropologist and Jewish cultural historian, has published and lectured widely on Bukharan Jewish culture and history, and is one of the world’s foremost authorities on this group. Dr. Cooper’s book,"Bukharan Jews and the Dynamics of Global Judaism is forthcoming with Indiana University Press. She has held teaching and research positions at several institutions including Harvard University, University of Michigan, Boston University and University of Massachusetts. Currently she serves as Director of Adult Education for the Jewish Federation of the Boston North Shore, and lives in Cambridge, MA with her husband and three daughters.
Religions of the Silk Road: Transformation and Transmission in the Heart of Asia, is a lecture series co-sponsored by the UCLA Central Asia Initiative and the Center for the Study of Religion
For more information please contact
Elizabeth Leicester
Tel: 310-825-0007
eleicester@international.ucla.edu
www.international.ucla.edu/asia/centralasia
Sponsor(s): Asia Institute, Program on Central Asia, Center for Jewish Studies, Center for the Study of Religion
