Turbulent Times: The British Jewish Community Today

Description

The first book-length study of contemporary British Jewry , Turbulent Times: The British Jewish Community Today examines the changing nature of the British Jewish community and its leadership since 1990. Keith Kahn-Harris and Ben Gidley contend that there has been a shift within Jewish communal discourse from a strategy of security, which emphasized Anglo-Jewry's secure British belonging and citizenship, to a strategy of insecurity, which emphasizes the dangers and threats Jews face individually and communally. This shift is part of a process of renewal in the community that has led to something of a 'Jewish renaissance' in Britain. Addressing key questions on the transitions in the history of Anglo-Jewish community and leadership, and tackling the concept of the 'new antisemitism', this important and timely study addresses the question: how has UK Jewry adapted from a shift from monoculturalism to multiculturalism?

Dr. Keith Kahn-Harris is an independent scholar, an associate lecturer at the Open University, an associate at the Centre for Urban and Community Research, Goldsmiths College and a founder of the Centre for New Jewish Thought. His website is www.kahn-harris.org. Keith Kahn-Harris is Honorary Research Fellow at the Centre for Religion and Contemporary Society at Birkbeck College, University of London, UK, and the convenor of New Jewish Thought (www.newjewishthought.org). His website is www.kahn-harris.org Ben Gidley is Senior Researcher at the COMPAS Centre on Migration, Policy and Society, Oxford University.

"There is a paradox at the centre of Jewish life in modern Britain. On the one hand Jews are arguably the most successfully integrated ethnic minority in Britain today. On the other, they feel marginalized and - still - unwelcome. Drs. Kahn-Harris and Gidley offer us the first scholarly dissection of this paradox. Their conclusions - based on the exhaustive examination of written and oral sources - will surprise many. But these conclusions could also offer the blueprint for a renewed engagement between Britain's Jews and the British state." - Geoffrey Alderman, Michael Gross Professor of Politics & Contemporary History, University of Buckingham, UK 'Turbulent Times is probing and revelatory, offering exactly the kind of self-reflection any minority community needs in order to understand itself and consider its future. Turbulent Times is an important contribution to a much-needed debate.' -- Jewish Quarterly The study provides a wealth of information on an important topic. -- Jewish Book World A book well worth reading! -- Association of Jewish Libraries Newsletter