Ashkenormativity

Last updated

Ashkenormativity refers to a form of Eurocentrism within Ashkenazi Jewish culture that confers privilege on Ashkenazi Jews relative to Jews of Sephardi, Mizrahi, Ethiopian, and other non-Ashkenazi backgrounds, as well as to the assumption that Ashkenazi culture is the default Jewish culture. The term is most commonly used in the United States, where the majority of Jews are Ashkenazi. Ashkenormativity is also alleged to exist in Israel, where Ashkenazi Jews experience cultural prominence despite no longer constituting a majority. [1] [2] [3]

Contents

Demographics

In 2021, Ashkenazi Jews were the majority of American Jews, with Ashkenazi Jews making up 66% of the Jewish population, with another 6% having a mixed Ashkenazi/non-Ashkenazi background (such as Sephardi or Mizrahi). 63% of all American Jews identified as non-Hispanic white Ashkenazi Jews. 1% of American Ashkenazi Jews were non-Hispanic Black, 1% were Hispanic, and 2% were mixed or of some other race (such as Asian). According to Ilana Kaufman, executive director of the Jews of Color Initiative, the "dominance of Ashkenazi heritage (associated with Central and Eastern Europe) in American Judaism can make Jews who don't share that background feel out of place in synagogues and other Jewish settings." [4]

Ashkenazi Jews of color

According to "Understanding Antisemitism", a document produced by Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, Ashkenazi Jews of color "benefit from the normalization of Ashkenazi culture within the Jewish community." However, racism prevents Ashkenazi Jews of color from "access to the institutional power that tends to come with cultural dominance." [5] Jewish Voice for Peace believes that many Jewish-American organizations "focus on white Ashkenazi history when discussing antisemitism" and thus erase the "existence of Ashkenazi Jews of Color" and their experiences of antisemitism. [6]

Definition

The Newish Jewish Encyclopedia defines Ashkenormativity as the assumption that "Jewish life and culture is limited primarily to the experiences and customs of Ashkenazi Jews". The encyclopedia asserts that most American Jews, both Ashkenazi and non-Ashkenazi, have internalized Ashkenormative views due to the historical prominence of Ashkenazim within American Jewish life. [7]

The Oxford Handbook of Jewishness and Dance defines Ashkenormativity as "an Ashkenazi, or European Jewish, centricity in relation to dominant formulations of Jewish culture". [8]

Early examples of the term in print include a 2014 article in the Jewish Daily Forward by Jonathan Katz entitled Learning to Undo 'Ashkenormativity' [9] and a 2016 article by sociologist Analucía Lopezrevoredo and law professor and political scientist David Schraub entitled An Intersectional Failure: How Both Israel’s Backers and Critics Write Mizrahi Jews Out of the Story. [10]

Examples of Ashkenormativity

Norman Stillman, an academic in Oriental studies, wrote about the "Ashkenazification" of Sephardi religious life in Israel. [11] Daniel J. Elazar said that Ashkenazified Sephardi yeshivot in Israel emulate Eastern European Ashkenazi forms of Judaism at the expense of their own Sephardi heritage, with Sephardi rabbis experiencing pressure to adapt to Ashkenazi norms. [12]


The Jewish environmental advocacy organization Hazon, whose staff is predominantly Ashkenazi, described terms such as "Jewish looking" or "a Jewish dance" as "Yiddish-centric/Ashkenormative". [13]

Common stereotypes about Jews, such as having pale skin or wearing black hats, are often stereotypes about Ashkenazi Jews specifically rather than Jews as a whole. These stereotypes apply to white Ashkenazim rather than Black, Sephardi, and Mizrahi Jews. [14] Another example of Ashkenormativity is assuming that iconic aspects of Ashkenazi culture, such the Yiddish language, media such as Fiddler on the Roof or Indecent , or staples of Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine such as bagels and gefilte fish, are representative of all Jews. [15]

Many kibbutzim in Israel are or were historically majority Ashkenazi. Lihi Yona, writing for +972 Magazine, said that the Ashkenazi-dominated kibbutz movement "contributed to the vast socio-economic gaps that characterize Israel today" because "Ashkenazim enjoy near-unadulterated privilege and access to land and natural resources, which in turn yield significant economic opportunities. Meanwhile, Mizrahi “development towns” that sprang up around them house tens of thousands of people in small, cramped geographic areas that offer little opportunities for economic advancement." [16]

Criticism

Given the dominant status of the Hebrew language within Israeli-Jewish culture, and the de-emphasizing of Yiddish culture, Jordan Kutzik questioned the extent to which Ashkenormativity exists, particularly within Israel. [17]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ashkenazi Jews</span> Jewish diaspora of Central Europe

Ashkenazi Jews, also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim, constitute a Jewish diaspora population that emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium CE. They traditionally spoke Yiddish and largely migrated towards northern and eastern Europe during the late Middle Ages due to persecution. Hebrew was primarily used as a literary and sacred language until its 20th-century revival as a common language in Israel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sephardic Jews</span> Jewish diaspora of Spain and Portugal

SephardicJews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the Iberian Peninsula. The term, which is derived from the Hebrew Sepharad, can also refer to the Jews of the Middle East and North Africa, who were also heavily influenced by Sephardic law and customs. Many Iberian Jewish exiled families also later sought refuge in those Jewish communities, resulting in ethnic and cultural integration with those communities over the span of many centuries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sephardic law and customs</span> Practice of Judaism by the Sephardim

Sephardic law and customs are the law and customs of Judaism which are practiced by Sephardim or Sephardic Jews ; the descendants of the historic Jewish community of the Iberian Peninsula, what is now Spain and Portugal. Many definitions of "Sephardic" also include Mizrahi Jews, most of whom follow the same traditions of worship as those which are followed by Sephardic Jews. The Sephardi Rite is not a denomination nor is it a movement like Orthodox Judaism, Reform Judaism, and other Ashkenazi Rite worship traditions. Thus, Sephardim comprise a community with distinct cultural, juridical and philosophical traditions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jewish diaspora</span> Dispersion of Jews around the globe

The Jewish diaspora or exile is the dispersion of Israelites or Jews out of their ancient ancestral homeland and their subsequent settlement in other parts of the globe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mizrahi Jews</span> Jews of the Middle East and North Africa

Mizrahi Jews, also known as Mizrahim (מִזְרָחִים) or Mizrachi (מִזְרָחִי) and alternatively referred to as Oriental Jews or Edot HaMizrach, are a grouping of Jewish communities that remained in the Middle East.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Jews</span> American nationals and citizens who are Jewish

American Jews or Jewish Americans are American citizens who are Jewish, whether by culture, ethnicity, or religion. According to a 2020 poll conducted by Pew Research, approximately two thirds of American Jews identify as Ashkenazi, 3% identify as Sephardic, and 1% identify as Mizrahi. An additional 6% identify as some combination of the three categories.

Jewish ethnic divisions refer to many distinctive communities within the world's Jewish population. Although considered a self-identifying ethnicity, there are distinct ethnic subdivisions among Jews, most of which are primarily the result of geographic branching from an originating Israelite population, mixing with local communities, and subsequent independent evolutions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jewish cuisine</span> Culinary traditions of Jewish communities around the world

Jewish cuisine refers to the worldwide cooking traditions of the Jewish people. During its evolution over the course of many centuries, it has been shaped by Jewish dietary laws (kashrut), Jewish festivals and holidays, and traditions centred around Shabbat. Jewish cuisine is influenced by the economics, agriculture, and culinary traditions of the many countries where Jewish communities have settled and varies widely throughout the entire world.

Arab Jews is a term for Jews living in or originating from the Arab world. The term is politically contested, often by Zionists or by Jews with roots in the Arab world who prefer to be identified as Mizrahi Jews. Many left or were expelled from Arab countries in the decades following the founding of Israel in 1948, and took up residence in Israel, Western Europe, the United States and Latin America.

Israeli Jews or Jewish Israelis comprise Israel's largest ethnic and religious community. The core of their demographic consists of those with a Jewish identity and their descendants, including ethnic Jews and religious Jews alike. Approximately 99% of the global Israeli Jewish population resides in Israel; yerida is uncommon and is offset exponentially by aliyah, but those who do emigrate from the country typically relocate to the Western world. As such, the Israeli diaspora is closely tied to the broader Jewish diaspora.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jews in New York City</span>

Jews comprise approximately 16% of New York City's population, making the Jewish community the largest in the world outside of Israel and the world's largest metropolitan Jewish community. As of 2020, just over 1.3 million Jews lived in the five boroughs of New York City, and over 1.912 million Jews lived in New York-Newark-Jersey City overall.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jews</span> Ethnoreligious group and nation

The Jews or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites of the ancient Near East, and whose traditional religion is Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly interrelated, as Judaism is an ethnic religion, although not all ethnic Jews practice it. Despite this, religious Jews regard individuals who have formally converted to Judaism as part of the community.

Genetic studies of Jews are part of the population genetics discipline and are used to analyze the chronology of Jewish migration accompanied by research in other fields, such as history, linguistics, archaeology, and paleontology. These studies investigate the origins of various Jewish ethnic divisions. In particular, they examine whether there is a common genetic heritage among them. The medical genetics of Jews are studied for population-specific diseases.

Mizrahi Jews constitute one of the largest Jewish ethnic divisions among Israeli Jews. Mizrahi Jews are descended from Jews in the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia and parts of the Caucasus, who had lived for many generations under Muslim rule during the Middle Ages. The vast majority of them left the Muslim-majority countries during the Arab–Israeli conflict, in what is known as the Jewish exodus from Arab and Muslim countries. a 2018 statistic found that 45% of Jewish Israelis identified as either Mizrahi or Sephardic.

Ashkenazi Jews in Israel refers to immigrants and descendants of Ashkenazi Jews, who now reside within the state of Israel, in the modern sense also referring to Israeli Jewish adherents of the Ashkenazi Jewish tradition. As of 2013, they number 2.8 million and constitute one of the largest Jewish ethnic divisions in Israel, in line with Mizrahi and Sephardi Jews. Ashkenazim, excluding those who migrated from the former USSR, are estimated to be 31.8% of the Israeli population in 2018.

<i>Ashkenaz</i> (film) 2007 documentary film

Ashkenaz is a 2007 Israeli documentary film, directed by Rachel Leah Jones.

Jewish visibility is a term referring to Jews who are visibly identifiable as Jewish. The term can also refer to visible representations of Jews in media and public life. A person may become visibly Jewish by publicly identifying as Jewish, by participation in Jewish communal life, by publicly wearing Jewish religious clothing, and by having names or physical features stereotyped as Jewish. People who are visibly Jewish may be at a higher risk of experiencing antisemitism. In addition to people, buildings and other physical properties can be visibly Jewish, particularly synagogues and Jewish cemeteries. Jewish visibility/invisibility can also be used to refer to marginalized populations within Jewish communities, such as Jews of color and poor Jews.

Racism in Jewish communities is a source of concern for people of color, particularly for Jews of color. Black Jews, Indigenous Jews, and other Jews of color report that they experience racism from white Jews in many countries, including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Kenya, South Africa, and New Zealand. Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews also report experiences with racism by Ashkenazi Jews. The centering of Ashkenazi Jews is sometimes known as Ashkenormativity. In historically white-dominated countries with a legacy of anti-Black racism, such as the United States and South Africa, racism within the Jewish community often manifests itself as anti-Blackness. In Israel, racism among Israeli Jews often manifests itself as discrimination and prejudice against Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews, Ethiopian Jews, African immigrants, and Palestinians. Controversially, some critics describe Zionism as racist or settler colonial in nature.

Jews of color is a neologism, primarily used in North America, that describes Jews from non-white racial and ethnic backgrounds, whether mixed-race, adopted, Jews by conversion, or part of national or geographic populations that are non-white. It is often used to identify Jews who are racially non-white, whose family origins are originally in African, Asian or Latin American countries, and to acknowledge a common experience for Jews who belong to racial, national, or geographic groups beyond white and Ashkenazi.

References

  1. ↑ "Ashkenormativity in the Jewish Community". Sefaria . Retrieved 2021-11-24.
  2. ↑ "Frequently Asked Questions". Ammud.org. Retrieved 2021-11-24.
  3. ↑ "Beyond the Critical Framework of Ashkenormativity: Reimagining Jewish Solidarity and Klal Yisrael". Zaman Collective. Retrieved 2021-11-24.
  4. ↑ "9. Race, ethnicity, heritage and immigration among U.S. Jews". Pew Research Center. Retrieved 2022-04-18.
  5. ↑ "Understanding Antisemitism: An Offering to our Movement" (PDF). Jews for Racial and Economic Justice . Retrieved 2022-09-01.
  6. ↑ "Fighting Antisemitism 2016" . Retrieved 2022-09-01.
  7. ↑ Butnick, Stephanie; Lebovitz, Liel; Oppenheimer, Mark (2019). The Newish Jewish Encyclopedia: From Abraham to Zabar's and Everything in Between. Artisan Books. p. 20. ISBN   9781579658939.
  8. ↑ Jackson, Naomi M.; Pappas, Rebecca; Shapiro-Phim, Toni (2021). The Oxford Handbook of Jewishness and Dance. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. p. 700. ISBN   9780197519523.
  9. ↑ Jonathan Katz (November 5, 2014). "Learning to Undo 'Ashkenormativity'". Jewish Daily Forward.
  10. ↑ "An Intersectional Failure: How Both Israel's Backers and Critics Write Mizrahi Jews Out of the Story". Tablet. 2016-01-25.
  11. ↑ Stillman, Norman A. (1995). Sephardi Religious Responses to Modernity (The Sherman Lecture Series , Vol 1). Milton Park: Harwood Academic Publishers. pp. 76, 84. ISBN   9783718656998.
  12. ↑ "Can Sephardic Judaism be Reconstructed?". Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs . Retrieved 2021-11-26.
  13. ↑ "Equity and Justice Statement". Hazon . Retrieved 2021-11-24.
  14. ↑ "Mizrahi Students Talk: Are Campus Communities Ashkenormative?". New Voices . Retrieved 2021-11-24.
  15. ↑ "Black and Jewish Speakers Discuss Race with B'nai Israel". Baltimore Jewish Times . Retrieved 2021-11-24.
  16. ↑ "The story of Israel's Ashkenazi supremacy in one river". +972 Magazine . Retrieved 2022-04-18.
  17. ↑ Kutzik, Jordan (January 8, 2019). "Opinion: Ashkenormativity? What about Israel-Centrism?". The Forward. Archived from the original on April 9, 2019. Retrieved 2021-11-24.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.