Judaic Studies and Me

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Judaic Studies and Me

Joel Martin Halpern

This chapter is part of: Leonard H. Ehrlich et al. 2004. Textures and Meanings: Thirty Years of Judaic Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst

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Description
Textures and Meanings concludes with Joel Martin Halpern’s reflections on his career as a Jewish anthropologist. Halpern challenges the taboo, once much more tenacious than it is today, on discussing the inevitable personal interest of the social scientist in his or her material. What Clifford Geertz called “reflexive anthropology” takes the traditions, environment and personality of the anthropologist into account and recognizes “self” and “other” as interactive categories. Halpern explores dimensions of his professional experience to illustrate these interactions. As a young student in Alaska, he encountered the unacknowledged antiSemitism of his profession during the 1950’s. In South East Asia he discovered that whereas American and European cultures discriminate practice among monotheisms and even within them, in Asia one can be simultaneously involved in multiple religious systems. In the former Yugoslavia, Halpern learned of lost Jewish life and lives. Through these examples, Halpern reveals “the deep connection between one’s observations and the lenses we develop to view these observations,” which is a fitting reflection on a central feature of this collection of essays as a whole.

Description

Textures and Meanings concludes with Joel Martin Halpern’s reflections on his career as a Jewish anthropologist. Halpern challenges the taboo, once much more tenacious than it is today, on discussing the inevitable personal interest of the social scientist in his or her material. What Clifford Geertz called “reflexive anthropology” takes the traditions, environment and personality of the anthropologist into account and recognizes “self” and “other” as interactive categories. Halpern explores dimensions of his professional experience to illustrate these interactions. As a young student in Alaska, he encountered the unacknowledged antiSemitism of his profession during the 1950’s. In South East Asia he discovered that whereas American and European cultures discriminate practice among monotheisms and even within them, in Asia one can be simultaneously involved in multiple religious systems. In the former Yugoslavia, Halpern learned of lost Jewish life and lives. Through these examples, Halpern reveals “the deep connection between one’s observations and the lenses we develop to view these observations,” which is a fitting reflection on a central feature of this collection of essays as a whole.

Details

Published	Published By
Aug. 1, 2004	University of Massachusetts Amherst
Citation
Halpern J. 2004. Judaic Studies and Me. In Leonard H. Ehrlich et al. 2004. Textures and Meanings: Thirty Years of Judaic Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst