The Calcutta Jewish Community and the Jewish Diaspora during the Inter-war Years

Bibliographic Data

ID13093441
AuthorsKaustav Chakrabarti (KPC Medical College and Hospital, corresponding author)
Year2016
Volume3
Issue2
Pages179-200
Publication date2016-05-27
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueContemporary Review of the Middle East (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2349-0055 • E-ISSN: 2347-7989
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/2347798916638212
OpenAlexW2402967522
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited6

The city of Calcutta (now Kolkata) is home to a tiny community, namely, Baghdadi Jews from the Middle East. The Jewish community contributed extensively toward building and consolidating the rich socio-cultural heritage through the creation of social and cultural infrastructures like schools, hospitals, baby clinics, women and youth organizations. Breaking social taboos, they were stimulated by the attractions of Western education and took up modern professions. Their contributions were keenly appreciated both in pre- and post-independent India. Apart from their domiciled status, the Jews of Calcutta were not indifferent to the events affecting their brethren in the international arena, and in the process began to take keen interest in the fate of worldwide Jewry. This article traces the connection of the Baghdadi Jewish community of Calcutta with diaspora Jewry in the following areas, namely, the inter-war period, wartime contribution and the Zionist movement, and tries to explore the concept of diaspora with regard to the Calcutta Jews and how it affected their identity during the colonial and the post-colonial era

Ancient history · Archaeology · Colonialism · Diaspora · Ethnology · Jewish identity · Jewish studies · Judaism · Political science · Sociology · Colonial History and Postcolonial Studies · Diaspora, migration, transnational identity · Gender Studies · History · Law · Migration, Ethnicity, and Economy

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