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"Where do you draw the line?" Negotiating Kashrut and jewish identity in a small british reform community

Diemling, Maria, Ray, Larry J. (2014) "Where do you draw the line?" Negotiating Kashrut and jewish identity in a small british reform community. Food, Culture and Society, 17 (1). pp. 125-142. ISSN 1552-8014. (doi:10.2752/175174414X13831235510699) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:38780)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided.
Official URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.2752/175174414X13831235510699

Abstract

This study explores the importance of food and the negotiation of kosher laws in the context of strategies to maintain an individual and collective Jewish identity among a British Reform Jewish community in a non-metropolitan area. Based on interviews with active members of the local synagogue, it explores the challenges to maintaining Jewish life in a small, disparate community remote from any major Jewish settlement. In the interview data, food emerges as a major point of reference for defining identity and for positioning members of the community in relation to religious traditions. Food observance further serves as a means of defining boundaries within as well as outside the community. This discussion raises several important issues: the place of religious observance in modern societies, the question of membership and boundaries of communities, the diversity of contemporary Jewish Reform observance and, finally, the specific role of food and foodways in negotiating these challenges.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.2752/175174414X13831235510699
Uncontrolled keywords: British jewry, Habitus, Jewish food, Kashrut, Reform judaism, Vegetarianism
Subjects: H Social Sciences
Divisions: Divisions > Division for the Study of Law, Society and Social Justice > School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research
Depositing User: Mita Mondal
Date Deposited: 17 Mar 2014 10:26 UTC
Last Modified: 17 Aug 2022 10:57 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/38780 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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