From Leipzig to Jerusalem: Erich Brauer, a Jewish Ethnographer in Search of a Field
Erich Brauer (1895–1942) was born in Berlin, where he was active in the Jung Juda youth-movement. A talented graphic artist, he was trained as an ethnologist in Leipzig and is best known today for his ethnological studies done in Palestine, especially his monographs on the Jews of Yemen (published i...
| Published in: | Naharaim |
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| Authors: | ; |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
De Gruyter
2014
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| In: |
Naharaim
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| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) |
| Summary: | Erich Brauer (1895–1942) was born in Berlin, where he was active in the Jung Juda youth-movement. A talented graphic artist, he was trained as an ethnologist in Leipzig and is best known today for his ethnological studies done in Palestine, especially his monographs on the Jews of Yemen (published in German in 1934) and the Jews of Kurdistan (published in Hebrew in 1947 and in English in 1993). Brauer’s work is discussed in relation to his disciplinary habitus as a diffusionist ethnologist whose dissertation in Leipzig was devoted to the religion of the Herero and what was then known as the “Hamitic Thesis.” This background helps explain his relation to “the field” in two senses – the site where ethnographic fieldwork is conducted and the disciplinary field of German ethnology (Völkerkunde). These two fields are inseparable from one another and are discussed in the context of the status of ethnographic disciplines at The Hebrew University in Mandatory Palestine. Finally, the paper examines historiographic issues relating to the fate of the communities Brauer studied, his own Zionist identity, and the way German ethnology was practiced during National Socialism. |
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| ISSN: | 1862-9156 |
| Contains: | In: Naharaim
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1515/naha-2014-0005 |