Queering Jewish Cultural Heritage in Europe

This book moves towards the development of more inclusive practices in the handling, management, and debate of Jewish cultural heritage in Europe. The volume presents dynamic explorations of current Jewish subjects across a range of positionalities. It uses diverse methodologies such as ethnographic and sociological fieldwork, research creation, and artistic response.

Deploying “queer” in relation to Jewish heritage in the double sense of “queering” as a critical and reparative process and of a “queer” spectrum of minority positionalities, this volume demonstrates their multifaceted and polydimensional resonances in the contemporary European context. The contributions offer in-depth explorations highlighting a diversity of marginalised Jewish positionalities and initiatives to develop inclusive, polyvalent, and ultimately iridescent approaches to Jewish heritage in Europe. It explores more inclusive conceptualisations and applications of cultural heritage and associated policies, shedding light on how Queer Jewish subjects make heritage as they create and recreate cultural and historical meanings across a wide spectrum of identity, belonging, and artistic engagement.

The book will appeal to scholars and students of queer studies, critical heritage studies, and Jewish studies, as well as to researchers in the fields of ethnomusicology, artistic research/research creation, and museum studies. Its insights will be valuable to civil society actors and thought leaders from queer Jewish communities, as well as to heritage professionals who wish to develop more nuanced and inclusive strategies to refine current approaches in their fields.