Return to Casablanca : Jews, Muslims, and an Israeli Anthropologist - Andre Levy

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Return to Casablanca

Jews, Muslims, and an Israeli Anthropologist

By: Andre Levy

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Paperback | 4 November 2015 | Edition Number 1

At a Glance

Paperback
240 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
2.26 x 1.56 x 0.14

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In this book, Israeli anthropologist Andr© Levy returns to his birthplace in Casablanca to provide a deeply nuanced and compelling study of the relationships between Moroccan Jews and Muslims there. Ranging over a century of historyâ"from the Jewish Enlightenment and the impending colonialism of the late nineteenth century to todayâs modern Arab stateâ"Levy paints a rich portrait of two communities pressed together, of the tremendous mobility that has characterized the past century, and of the paradoxes that complicate the cultural identities of the present.

Levy visits a host of sites and historical figures to assemble a compelling history of social change, while seamlessly interweaving his study with personal accounts of his returns to his homeland. Central to this story is the massive migration of Jews out of Morocco. Levy traces the institutional and social changes such migrations cause for those who choose to stay, introducing the concept of âcontractionâ to depict the way Jews deal with the ramifications of their demographic dwindling. Turning his attention outward from Morocco, he goes on to explore the greater complexities of the Jewish diaspora and the essential paradox at the heart of his adventureâ"leaving Israel to return home.

Industry Reviews

"Levy, an Israeli anthropologist who was born in Morocco and migrated to Israel with his family in the fifties, has written a sensitive book on the dynamic transformation of Jewish identity and communal solidarity of the Jewish community of Casablanca. Levy weaves his own personal journey into that of the larger Jewish community and its transformation under French colonial rule, postcolonial upheavals, and the formation of the modern nation-state of Morocco, defined by its Arab and Moslem identities. The political tensions that followed the founding of the Jewish state of Israel exacerbated the anxieties and fears of the Moroccan Jews, who undertook a massive migration first to Israel and later to France. Levy's study of the small community (around 3,000) that chose to remain behind in Morocco provides valuable insights into the understanding of personal and group identity, of the meaning of 'home' and exile, and of the transformation of human communities. . . . Highly recommended."
-- "Choice"
"Levy's work has many merits: it is nuanced, detailed, intimately told. . . . Return to Casablanca is an important contribution to the study of Jews in the Muslim world: not many communities still exist, and the Moroccan one is the largest. The book is also of interest for minority studies and its exploration of the notion of 'diaspora.'"
-- "Jewish Book Council"
"A work that unites memory, nostalgia and social science. It is a combination of a search for roots, memoir and anthropological field study of the dwindling Moroccan Jewish community in Casablanca. . . . For readers who treasure a traditional folkloric Judeo-Arabic Arabian Nights form of storytelling, this book is a delight.
--Aaron Howard "Jewish Herald-Voice"

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