Beyond Whiteness, Revisiting Jews in Ethnic America

Year

2023

Publisher

Purdue University Press

Language

English

Pages

ISBN

978-1-61249-918-5

Link

Last Update

21-May-2026

Keywords

Jewish Studies ; History ; Sociology

Description

An older cousin recently joined me at dinnertime. When the conversation turned to food and desserts, I asked him: “Do you like mandelbrot?” He answered “Of course I do, I’m Jewish.” Indeed, many in my generation see a New York Jewish identity often expressed in food and other preferences as decidedly ethnic, suggesting that this category remains useful. Yet understandings of ethnicity and similar naturalized identities are shifting rapidly. The category has arguably become less salient for younger Jews and perhaps for those whose elders were once thought “unmeltable ethnics.” Moreover, the recognition that the concept ethnicity has tended to...