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Article: Decentering the study of Jewish identity: opening the dialogue with other religious groups.
- Article from:
- Sociology of Religion
- Article date:
- December 22, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 Association for the Sociology of Religion. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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INTRODUCTION
Jews are often characterized as a rather closed ethnic group into which it is difficult to assimilate (see, for example, Katz 1992; McClain 1995). Attendance at conferences devoted to Jewish scholarship might give the same impression. Yiddish or Hebrew often peppers a conversation or presentation along with references to Jewish jokes and insider research issues at Jewish Studies Conferences and at sessions dedicated to Jewish topics at disciplinary conferences. Jewish researchers, who sometimes have a personal agenda when choosing a topic, often engage in an emotional dialogue with others because of the topic's personal salience. None of this, of ...