Jewish Life in Twenty-First-Century Turkey

The book provides much important information and analysis on important issues regarding contemporary Turkish Jews, though some of the theoretical parts might be of more interest to anthropologists. The study is an important contribution to our knowledge of Jewish life in the 21st century Middle East in general and Turkey in particular, and is of relevance as well for those interested in minority and culture studies. * AJL Reviews * Brink-Danan's volume offers a complex and thought-provoking portrait of Jewish life in twenty-first-century Turkey through the compelling lens of linguistic anthropology. It not only elucidates multiple facets of a Jewish community generally overlooked by scholars, but also encourages us to rethink the nature of 'cosmopolitanism,' 'tolerance,' and minority politics more broadly through the example of Turkey. * H-Judaic H-Net * Brink-Danan . . . ventures beyond the bland and the predictable and produces a thought-provoking book about an intriguing Jewish community in a fascinating Muslim country. * The Canadian Jewish News * [A] marvelously provocative book . . . Highly recommended. * Choice * [A]n outstanding study . . . . [I]t solves the riddles of Turkish Jewish culture by offering a critical contribution to the discussion of cosmopolitanism. * Comparative Studies in Society and History * Marcy Brink-Danan's study offers a rare and insightful view of the multilayered dynamics between and profiles of individuals peopling Istanbul's Jewish community. Jewish Life in 21st-Century Turkey is at once an important ethnographic investigation and a sociolinguistic analysis. As such, it stands apart from other studies of Turkey's contemporary Jews. * Slavic Review *

Marcy Brink-Danan is Dorot Assistant Professor of Judaic Studies and Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Brown University.

Preface: The Ends and Beginnings of 1992 Acknowledgements Introduction 1. Tolerance, Difference, and Citizenship 2. Cosmopolitan Signs: Names as Foreign and Local 3. The Limits of Cosmopolitanism 4. Performing Difference: Turkish Jews on The National Stage 5. Intimate Negotiations: Turkish Jews Between Stages 6. The One Who Writes Difference: Inside Secrecy Conclusion Notes References Index