Reading Response 2/12

In Ishaq Shami and the Arab Jew a great point was made that in contrast to the other Arab countries such as Yemen, Iraq, and Syria-Lebanon, the community was not homogenous in ethnic and confessional terms. In addition, there is an interesting transition as noted in Victoria, Michaels most controversial novel, that there was a major divide and separation that most Arabic Jews experienced when classifying themselves as Arabic Jews or Israelis. It’s interesting that by reconstructing their Hebrew culture the denigrating of their Arab cultural roots had to simultaneously take place.

In Lepers Lunatics and Saints, there is an interesting debate about the use of the word nativism. Some use it to “refer to widely disparate notions of preserving cultural roots and their ‘authenticity’.” While others such as Mehrzad, it is a “ ‘resurgence ad reinstatement of native or indigenous cultural customs.. Privileging ones own ‘authentic identity’.” While Canaan and his colleagues strayed away from using that term but were still rather skilled at framing observations about peasant practices with references mainly from the Old Testament and less from the Quran. By doing so he hoped to demonstrate the historical continuity between pre-Islamic social and normative systems and the modern Arab rural lifestyle. By using the biblical references as his main historical backdrop was understandable since it does contain a great deal of historical content but I feel like to gain a less biased and one sided background was essential to accurately analyze the changing mores of his subjects. Canaan delves deeper in explaining the demonology, which he uses in a scientific aspect to explain how the peasants who were affected by natural and human disasters, as well as held hostage cope with these stressful aspects of life. He bridges the aspect of peasant ailments such as herbology to the ideological aspects of folk medicine such as magic potions.