"The Jews of the Middle East and North Africa: A Historiographic Debate"

Over the last twenty years, Sephardi and Mizrahi Studies have grown significantly and have led to the publication of new and innovative works that investigated understudied aspects of Middle Eastern and North African Jewish history, identity and culture. The three works that I will discuss, illustrate very well some of the approaches through which scholars are tackling these subjects, and how differently the history of these Jewries can be narrated. All are ambi- tious books that, regardless if one agrees or not with the author’s conclusions, stimulate important reflections on the modern Middle East and North Africa and, even more so, on the Jews that lived in the region. This is why, before turning to the discussion of the books, it is worth saying a few words on the historical background from where they take cue.