Phillip I. Ackerman-Lieberman
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- May 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780804785471
- eISBN:
- 9780804787161
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804785471.003.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Jewish Studies
The first chapter briefly discusses the historiography of mercantile cooperation of Jews in Islamic lands seen particularly through the documents of the Cairo Geniza. It then proceeds to show at ...
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The first chapter briefly discusses the historiography of mercantile cooperation of Jews in Islamic lands seen particularly through the documents of the Cairo Geniza. It then proceeds to show at greater length how a number of scholars, recently dubbed the “Princeton School,” have used detail from Geniza documents, which emerged from Jewish hands, to describe economic life in the medieval Islamic world as a whole. The chapter identifies the key assumption that has made it possible for these scholars to extrapolate from the Jewish Geniza documents to the Islamic world, namely that Jews and Muslims structured their mercantile arrangements in precisely the same manner. Finally, the chapter aims to reveal some of the motivating forces behind this assumption--specifically, its simplicity and utility, as well as its implication that economic life was not an area Jews might have used as a vehicle for the establishment and maintenance of communal boundaries.Less
The first chapter briefly discusses the historiography of mercantile cooperation of Jews in Islamic lands seen particularly through the documents of the Cairo Geniza. It then proceeds to show at greater length how a number of scholars, recently dubbed the “Princeton School,” have used detail from Geniza documents, which emerged from Jewish hands, to describe economic life in the medieval Islamic world as a whole. The chapter identifies the key assumption that has made it possible for these scholars to extrapolate from the Jewish Geniza documents to the Islamic world, namely that Jews and Muslims structured their mercantile arrangements in precisely the same manner. Finally, the chapter aims to reveal some of the motivating forces behind this assumption--specifically, its simplicity and utility, as well as its implication that economic life was not an area Jews might have used as a vehicle for the establishment and maintenance of communal boundaries.
Francesca Trivellato
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- October 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199379187
- eISBN:
- 9780199379224
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199379187.003.0011
- Subject:
- History, World Early Modern History, History of Religion
The introduction lays out the volume’s contours and agenda. It outlines key approaches and concepts that have characterized classic studies of cross-cultural trade by historians such as S. D. ...
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The introduction lays out the volume’s contours and agenda. It outlines key approaches and concepts that have characterized classic studies of cross-cultural trade by historians such as S. D. Goitein, Fernand Braudel, Jerry H. Bentley, and especially Philip D. Curtin. In taking stock of these contributions and in order to advance the scholarly agenda, the chapter elaborates on a set of five questions for the historical and comparative study of cross-cultural trade. These five questions link the volume’s chapters together and can inform future inquiries on the subject in different times and places: (1) Did religion affect cross-cultural trade? (2) Did trust work across religious groups? (3) What role did legal institutions play in building cross-cultural trade? (4) When and how did violence coexist with cross-cultural trade? (5) Do material artifacts bear the imprint of cross-cultural trade?Less
The introduction lays out the volume’s contours and agenda. It outlines key approaches and concepts that have characterized classic studies of cross-cultural trade by historians such as S. D. Goitein, Fernand Braudel, Jerry H. Bentley, and especially Philip D. Curtin. In taking stock of these contributions and in order to advance the scholarly agenda, the chapter elaborates on a set of five questions for the historical and comparative study of cross-cultural trade. These five questions link the volume’s chapters together and can inform future inquiries on the subject in different times and places: (1) Did religion affect cross-cultural trade? (2) Did trust work across religious groups? (3) What role did legal institutions play in building cross-cultural trade? (4) When and how did violence coexist with cross-cultural trade? (5) Do material artifacts bear the imprint of cross-cultural trade?
Phillip I. Ackerman-Lieberman
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- May 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780804785471
- eISBN:
- 9780804787161
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804785471.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Jewish Studies
This book explores Jewish commercial partnerships in medieval Egypt, and reveals Jewish merchants to have used economic cooperation as a vehicle for cultural identity formation and maintenance. ...
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This book explores Jewish commercial partnerships in medieval Egypt, and reveals Jewish merchants to have used economic cooperation as a vehicle for cultural identity formation and maintenance. Through a detailed analysis of the legal documents of the Cairo Geniza, the book shows an affinity between Jewish law and the daily life of Jewish merchants filtered through the courts, which educated merchants about the norms of Jewish commercial law without necessarily demanding that the merchants transact their business according to those norms. However, a close reading of the actual documentary evidence shows that they have done so, and even shows how merchants’ choice to do so affirmed their Jewish identity in ways that cut across a number of different cultural domains. The idea that Jewish merchants might have had distinctive business practices reflecting their Jewish identity challenges the regnant wisdom of the “Princeton School” of Geniza scholars, who have used letters from Jewish merchants as a tool for describing the practice of the broad medieval Islamic marketplace. This book examines the historical practice of the Princeton School and questions the “identity” that scholars have understood to exist between the mercantile behavior of Jews and Muslims. The book proposes an alternative to this “identity” which accounts for the evidence from the legal documents of the Geniza and proposes a more complex relationship between Jewish and Muslim commercial behavior in the medieval Islamic world.Less
This book explores Jewish commercial partnerships in medieval Egypt, and reveals Jewish merchants to have used economic cooperation as a vehicle for cultural identity formation and maintenance. Through a detailed analysis of the legal documents of the Cairo Geniza, the book shows an affinity between Jewish law and the daily life of Jewish merchants filtered through the courts, which educated merchants about the norms of Jewish commercial law without necessarily demanding that the merchants transact their business according to those norms. However, a close reading of the actual documentary evidence shows that they have done so, and even shows how merchants’ choice to do so affirmed their Jewish identity in ways that cut across a number of different cultural domains. The idea that Jewish merchants might have had distinctive business practices reflecting their Jewish identity challenges the regnant wisdom of the “Princeton School” of Geniza scholars, who have used letters from Jewish merchants as a tool for describing the practice of the broad medieval Islamic marketplace. This book examines the historical practice of the Princeton School and questions the “identity” that scholars have understood to exist between the mercantile behavior of Jews and Muslims. The book proposes an alternative to this “identity” which accounts for the evidence from the legal documents of the Geniza and proposes a more complex relationship between Jewish and Muslim commercial behavior in the medieval Islamic world.
