The Jews of Andhra Pradesh
Contesting Caste and Religion in South India
Yulia Egorova and Shahid Perwez
Reviews and Awards
"The Jews of Andhra Pradesh: Contesting Caste and Religion in South India by Yulia Egorova and Shahid Perwez could be the remarkable tale of the search and discovery of one of the Lost Tribes of Israel in India. Or at least that is what the tribe of the Bene Ephraim and its Israeli discoverers (and now the state of Israel) want to claim. Yulia Egorova and Shahid Perwez's extraordinarily careful and respectful account of how the Bene Ephraim become Jewish, how they begin in their lives to fulfill the expectations of those still seeking the Lost Tribes to fulfill the Biblical prophecy of the ingathering of the Jews, is not only brilliant field anthropology but a compelling account of how parallel needs create complex and real identities. A must have for those in Jewish Studies and beyond." --Sander L. Gilman, Distinguished Professor of the Liberal Arts and Sciences; Professor of Psychiatry, Emory University
"The Jews of Andhra Pradesh is a vivid and resounding demonstration of the ongoing ability of the myth of the Ten Lost Tribes to produce new narratives of identity and belonging. Through its ethnographic exploration of the Bene Ephraim in India, this excellent book shows the interplay of modern religious identitarianism and ancient myth at work on the ground." -- Zvi Ben-Dor Benite, author of The Ten Lost Tribes: A World History
"This book is a fascinating trip through 'recognized/unrecognized' Jewish communities from India and the historization of their past, blurring the division between the particularist and the universalist dimensions of Judaism."-- Emanuela Trevisan Semi, author of Jacques Faitlovitch and the Jews of Ethiopia
