Port Jews or a People of the Diaspora? A Critique of the Port Jew Concept.

Monaco, C. S.

This article offers a critical examination of the port Jew concept that was first introduced in the late 1990s. The port Jew "social type" has been construed as an alternate path to modernity, a phenomenon that was distinct from the European Haskalah and intrinsic to the supposedly liberal environment of port towns and cities. Drawing on a body of historical evidence (primarily from the Dutch and British Caribbean), this article questions key characteristics of the port Jew thesis and argues that a diaspora framework is better suited for conceptualizing the Jewish Atlantic world.

JEWISH history; HARBORS; SOCIAL types; SORKIN, David; DUBIN, Lois; JEWISH diaspora

Jewish Social Studies, 2009, Vol 15, Issue 2, p137

0021-6704

Academic Journal

10.2979/JSS.2009.15.2.137