The New German Jewry and the European Context: The Return of the European Jewish Diaspora

New Perspectives in German Political Studies

by Y. Michal Bodemann (Editor), Leslie Morris (Contributor), Diana Pinto (Contributor)

Among Jews in the Diaspora, recent years and especially recent months have seen a growing disenchantment with Israeli politics and with Israel's claim as the only legitimate basis for Jewish existence. At the same time, European Jews have begun to reassert their own traditions in contrast to both America and Israel. As the case of German Jewry makes clear, much of this return of Diaspora comes from the Jewish periphery: women, Russian Jewish immigrants, Jews not recognised by Jewish law and Gays and Lesbians. But German Jews are also facing the involvement of non-Jewish Germans in Jewish culture, as both a boost and as an irritant. Ten internationally distinguished scholars are addressing these and other issues.

221 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Y. Michal Bodemann was professor emeritus, University of Toronto, sociologist, best known for his work on German Jewry, the concept of ideological labor and "memory theater" (1991) and his contributions to sociological praxis, interventive field work, in particular, his interventive observation method in qualitative field work. In the approach to interventive observation, Bodemann advocated the reciprocal nature of researcher and the people in a setting, as active participation, against the notion of the passive or neutral role of the observer. Bodemann's theoretical foundation continue to be influential against positivist notions of objectivity, which still persist in the field of sociology and in the approach to qualitative methods. His methodological approach is close to that of Michael Burawoy and notions of public sociology. Bodemann is best known for his contributions to Jewish studies, and Holocaust memory, and his concept of "ideological labour": where especially ethnic minorities are cast as representing values contrasting those of the larger society. He authored and edited numerous books, newspaper and academic articles, spanning the entirety of his academic career, in English, German and Italian.