Insider/outsider : American Jews and multiculturalism

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910495879203321
• Autore: Biale David <1949->
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: [Place of publication not identified], : University of California Press, 1998
• ISBN: 0-520-92002-3; 0-585-04777-4
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (288 p.)
• Disciplina: 305.892/4073
• Soggetti: Jews - United States - Intellectual life; Jews - Cultural assimilation - United States; Multiculturalism - United States; Gender & Ethnic Studies; Social Sciences; Ethnic & Race Studies
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph
• Nota di contenuto: Frontmatter -- Contents -- INTRODUCTION: The Dialectic of Jewish Enlightenment -- I: AMERICAN SYMPHONY OR MELTING POT? -- 1. The Melting Pot and Beyond: Jews and the Politics of American Identity -- 2. In Defense of Shaatnez: A Politics for Jews in a Multicultural America -- 3. Pluralism and Its Discontents: The Case of Blacks and Jews -- 4. Multiculturalism and the Politics of Interest -- II: CANONS AND COUNTERHISTORIES -- 5. Jewish Studies as Counterhistory -- 6. The Paradox of Jewish Studies in the New Academy -- 7. The Double Canonicity of the Hebrew Bible -- 8. The Idea of Judaism in Feminism and Afrocentrism -- III: DIASPORA NEGOTIATIONS -- 9. Scattered Seeds: A Dialogue of Diasporas -- 10. Language as Homeland in Jewish-American Literature -- 11. Modernism and Exile: A View from the Margins -- 12. Fag-Hags and Bu-Jews: Toward a (Jewish) Politics of Vicarious Identity -- NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS -- INDEX
• Sommario/riassunto: Twelve distinguished historians, political theorists, and literary critics present new perspectives on multiculturalism in this important collection. Central to the essays (all but one is appearing in print for ; the first time) is the question of how the Jewish experience can challenge the conventional polar opposition between a majority "white monoculture" and a marginalized "minorities of color multiculture." This book takes issue with such a dichotomy by showing how experiences of American Jews can undo conventional categories. Neither a complaint against multiculturalism by Jews who feel excluded from it, nor a celebration of multiculturalism as the solution to contemporary Jewish problems, Insider/Outsider explores how the Jews' anomalous status opens up multicultural history in different and interesting directions. The goal of the editors has been to transcend the notion of "comparative victimology" and to show the value of a narrative that does not rely on competing histories of persecution. Readers can discover in these essays arguments that will broaden their understanding of Jewish identity and multicultural theory and will enliven the contemporary debate about American culture generally.