The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry

Culture, Politics, and the Formation of a Modern Diaspora

Joel Beinin

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN:
  9780520211759
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9780520920217
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Middle Eastern History
• Index: History

In this provocative and wide-ranging history, Joel Beinin examines fundamental questions of ethnic identity by focusing on the Egyptian Jewish community since 1948. A complex and heterogeneous people, Egyptian Jews have become even more diverse as their diaspora continues to the present day. Central to Beinin's study is the question of how people handle multiple identities and loyalties that are dislocated and reformed by turbulent political and cultural processes. It is a question he grapples with himself, and his reflections on his experiences as an American Jew in Israel and Egypt offer a candid, personal perspective on the hazards of marginal identities.


In this provocative and wide-ranging history, Joel Beinin examines fundamental questions of ethnic identity by focusing on the Egyptian Jewish community since 1948. A complex and heterogeneous people, Egyptian Jews have become even more diverse as their d

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• CHAPTER I Introduction
• CHAPTER 2 Communitarianisms, Nationalisms, Nostalgias
• CHAPTER 3 Citizens, Dhimmis, and Subversives
• CHAPTER 4 Nazis and Spies
• CHAPTER 5 The Graduates of ha-Shomer ha-Tza’ir in Israel
• CHAPTER 6 The Communist Emigres in France
• CHAPTER 7 The Karaites of the San Francisco Bay Area
• CHAPTER 8 The Recovery of Egyptian Jewish Identity
• CHAPTER 9 Opposing Camp David and Remembering the Jews of Egypt
• APPENDIX Interview with Jacques Hassoun
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index