"New Jews" in contemporary Kenya: from philo-Semitism to conversion. Issue 4 (1st October 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Bruder, Edith
• Is Part Of: Journal of modern Jewish studies. Volume 19:Issue 4(2020)
• Page Start: 412
• Page End: 433
• Publication Date: 2020-10-01
• Subjects: Africa -- Judaism -- Philo-semitism -- Conversion; Jews -- Study and teaching -- Periodicals; Judaism -- Periodicals; Jews -- Periodicals; 305.8924
• DOI: 10.1080/14725886.2019.1670985
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1472-5886

Abstract

ABSTRACT: The current attraction to Judaism throughout the world has become quite a remarkable religious phenomenon of the twentieth century: in Africa and India, there has been a global surge of millions of people identifying themselves as Jews or Israelites and positioning themselves as being part of the Jewish Diaspora. In this article, after examining the various sources of inspiration of Judaism in Africa and drawing the outlines of African philo-semitism, I explore the phenomenon of Judaization of individuals and communities in Kenya in the twenty-first century. How and why do some Kenyans start placing themselves in a new epistemological universe at a particular period of time? And how do they start regarding themselves as Jews and undergo formal conversion? Using the material drawn from fieldwork carried out in the regions of Nyahururu and Nyeri in central Kenya in January-February 2018 and February 2019 among the community of the Jews of Kasuku and various Judaizing groups of the region, I place the conditions of the Kasuku conversion in its religious, sociological, and cultural environments.