The Immigration and Strategic Assimilation of Bene Menashe
A Zomian Jewish Community in Israel
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6415943 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Gideon Elazar (0000-0002-4114-8867, Ariel University, corresponding author), Miriam Billig (0000-0003-2699-9097, Ariel University) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 49 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 424-442 |
| Publication date | 2024-08-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Asian Studies Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1035-7823 • E-ISSN: 1467-8403 |
| Publisher | Routledge (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/10357823.2024.2381777 |
| OpenAlex | W4401279075 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 30 |
Based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted among a community of immigrants from the Eastern Indian states of Manipur and Mizoram, Bene Menashe, this article deals with how these immigrants have used ethnic identity to further integrate into mainstream Jewish and Israeli society. Originally known as the Kuki-Chin-Mizo, Bene Menashe claim to be descendants of the lost tribes of Israel, cut off from other Jews for 2,700 years. Several thousand members of the community have emigrated to Israel since the 1990s. Bene Menashe's background as a singular community of East Asian immigrants in the peripheral town of KA and as recent converts to Judaism, as well as their Zomian (Upland Southeast Asian) background, are central to the community's negotiation of ethnoreligious identity. Their efforts to integrate into contemporary Israeli society often contrast with the drive of Israeli cultural agents to emphasise the group's lost tribal heritage, and the community has also both emphasised and sought to discard their previous ethnic identity. Bene Menashe in KA, this article shows, employ several strategies to further their 'strategic assimilation' into Israeli society
Assimilation (phonology · Geography · Immigration · Judaism · Political science · Sociology · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Diaspora, migration, transnational identity · Gender Studies · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies · Law · Philosophy
The Art of Not Being Governed
Peaks of Faith
Religion in the Context of Globalization
Remaking the American Mainstream
The Sociology of Conversion
The new Mizrahi middle class
Lost Israelites From the Indo-Burmese Borderlands
Spiritual Emergency Room
Entrepreneurship in the periphery and local growth
Conversion as a Migration Strategy in a Transit Country
Among the Tribes in Southwest China
Dual Conversion Among the Shinlung of Northeast India
Acculturation and Its Discontents
Translating culture
Transnationalism and Hybridity in Religious Practices during the Migration Process
Empathy from the Margins
Continuities in assimilation
Acculturation and Assimilation
Storytelling the Future
Redefining the Converted Jewish Self
Religion and politics
Black spaces, black places
The return of assimilation? Changing perspectives on immigration and its sequels in France, Germany, and the United States
Becoming American by becoming Muslim
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |