Provincializing European Jewry: R. Yosef Hayyim of Baghdad, Ottoman Modernity and the Criticism of Secular Discourse
The project aims to examine the figure of Rabbi Yosef Hayyim – one of the major religious authorities of Baghdadi Jewry in the 19th century – as a major reference for a re-examination and problematization of the cultural categories that were developed in European Jewish contexts, and for the understanding of the characteristics of modern Ottoman Judaism and Ottoman modernity. This discussion of the figure of Rabbi Yosef Hayyim is contextualized with regards to: the social and intellectual local life of Baghdadi Jewish and non-Jewish circles, the framework of the political and cultural developments in the Ottoman Empire during the 19th century in general and the urbanization process of Baghdad in particular, and as part of the general Jewish cultural and the British colonial trade networks. Contextualizing Rabbi Yosef Hayyim’s thought with regards to major issues – such as perceptions of subjectivity, gender, poverty and social criticism, theological discourse of modern scientific thinking and of kabalistic knowledge – contributes to the understanding of the historical and cultural Iraqi Jewish experience in the 19th century and of Ottoman modernity, and thus challenges the exclusivity of categories developed on the grounds of European secular discourse.
