Between Orientalism, Tradition, and Nationalism: Building Jewish Identity in Twentieth-century Libya

Libyan Jewry and Jews of the Italian peninsula have engaged in near-constant interaction at least as far back as the time of the Roman empire. This project seeks to add to the history of those interactions by discussing Italian Jewish colonial impacts on the Libyan Jewish population. Using ideas of Orientalism and the imagined nation, this project demonstrates how Libyan Jewish identity was shaped by interaction with Italy and how Italian Jews worked colonially to subjugate, define, and change Libyan Jewry. Through analyzing–among other things–newspapers, scholarship, and general Italian Jewish discussion of and interaction with Libyan Jews, I show how Italian Jews (and elite Libyan Jews) worked to Italianize and later ‘Hebraicize’ the Libyan Jewish community..