Sephardic and Mizrahi Studies | Rowman & Littlefield
Sephardic and Mizrahi Studies
Being Sephardic has meant various things to various individuals at different times and in different places. In its narrowest definition “Sephardic has defined Jews from the Iberian Peninsula and more specifically from al-Andalus or Muslim Spain. With the expulsion of Iberian Jewry in the fifteenth century and their dispersion throughout the Mediterranean world a broader definition of Sephardic Jewry has evolved. Today Sephardic Jewry denotes a global diaspora in which indigenous Jewries from many lands have retained distinctive cultures while sharing many customs and memories or associations with medieval Iberia. The role of the scholar is to try to capture these differences. Sephardi-Mizrahi studies lack the geographical concentration, of course, of regional or national studies. Even the supposed linguistic unity of a national culture is missing, though some languages do present themselves as candidates. Thus there can be endless debates about what fits into Sephardi-Mizrahi studies and what doesn’t. What may not have fitted in the past may actually fit today. As a transnational field, influenced by a number of other cultures, Sephardi-Mizrahi studies fit in well with the current emphasis on multicultural, diaspora, and post-colonial studies.
We welcome prospective proposals and abstracts for monographs, edited collections, and occasional translations of important texts.



Editor(s): Jane Gerber, CUNY (gerberjs@aol.com), and Judith Roumani, Jewish Institute of Pitigliano, founder and editor of the journal Sephardic Horizons (judithroumani@yahoo.com)
Staff editorial contact: Judith Lakamper (jlakamper@rowman.com)