Rhizomic and Mycorrhizal Networks of African Jewry: A Study of Continuity and Change The Beta Israel of Qechene and North Shewa Ethiopia
In 2022, partnering with Beta Israel members in Ethiopia, Dr. Malka Shabtay, and Nina Judith Katz, I published The Hidden Jews of Ethiopia2 on the Beta Israel of Qechene (in Addis Ababa) and North Shewa, Ethiopia. In this article, I examine a dynamic over which I puzzled while working on the book: the flow of continuity and change. While exploring this subject, I found that at times, I hit a wall. Global northern colleagues of mine who studied such communities could not assist me in thinking about the dynamic interplay of continuity and change as I was seeing it. I came to realize that we need new frameworks to help outside scholars check our assumptions and avoid imposing them on locals. Moreover, perhaps community members might also find new frameworks helpful in considering how they operate and think about their experience3. Thus, I present here a proposed research agenda on continuity and change. To do so, I share ideas on the methods we might best use in undertaking such a study. I name a problem with a common approach that I and colleagues from the global north tend to utilize in our research on global southern Jewish communities newly in contact with global north communities.
