Narrating Post-Conflict Resilience: Memory and Identity in Uganda's Jewish Community
Public Deposited- Last Modified
- February 26, 2019
- Creator
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Nemer, Hannah
- Affiliation: College of Arts and Sciences, Curriculum in Peace, War, and Defense
- Abstract
- As unknown as the Abayudaya had seemed prior to my time with the community, during my stay in Nabugoye I met many Jewish visitors who would stop for a short time with the Abayudaya before continuing their Ugandan travels. Though in a rural village, it is not uncommon to see vans of Jewish mzungus from Israel or the United States winding their way up Nabugoye Hill on Friday evenings, coming to spend their Sabbath at Moses Synagogue (see A.2). They come interested in the novelty of the “Jews in Africa” and their unique story of self-motivated conversion to Judaism. These visitors and even the presence of the synagogue represent the most recent chapter in the Abayudaya’s nearly 100-year history. Just a generation ago President Idi Amin Dada banned the practice of Judaism in Uganda in an effort to eliminate Zionist sentiments from the region. Since the 1979 overthrow of Amin, the community has worked to strengthen its communal religious identity while solidifying its place within Judaism’s transnational community. This thesis evaluates the manifestation of that religious identity through an analysis of the Abayudaya’s conflict memories. In an effort to empower the community, the Abayudaya draw from their own history as well as from themes within Jewish traditions, weaving a narrative of the community’s mythic survival. Through these stories of oppression and subsequent resilience, the Abayudaya community validates its religious identity in context of transnational experiences of conflict.
- Date of publication
- spring 2014
- Keyword
- DOI
- Resource type
- Rights statement
- In Copyright
- Note
- Funding: Morehead Cain Foundation
- Advisor
- Redfield, Peter
- Degree
- Bachelor of Arts
- Honors level
- Highest Honors
- Degree granting institution
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Extent
- 135
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