Book description
Turkey is famed for a history of tolerance toward minorities, and
there is a growing nostalgia for the "Ottoman mosaic." In
this richly detailed study, Marcy Brink-Danan examines what it means
for Jews to live as a tolerated minority in contemporary Istanbul.
Often portrayed as the "good minority," Jews in Turkey
celebrate their long history in the region, yet they are subject to
discrimination and their institutions are regularly threatened and
periodically attacked. Brink-Danan explores the contradictions and
gaps in the popular ideology of Turkey as a land of tolerance,
describing how Turkish Jews manage the tensions between
cosmopolitanism and patriotism, difference as Jews and sameness as
Turkish citizens, tolerance and violence.
"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
Marcy Brink-Danan is Dorot Assistant Professor of Judaic Studies
and Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Brown University.
