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Following the digitization of archival records of ethnographic work conducted among Yemeni Jews in the early 1970s, we presented these findings to the same community at the same location, fifty years later. In this renegotiation, our... more
Following the digitization of archival records of ethnographic work conducted among Yemeni Jews in the early 1970s, we presented these findings to the same community at the same location, fifty years later. In this renegotiation, our interlocutors radically undermined the credibility of our archival material. We analyze the audience’s reactions and the way they reflect different ethnographic dynamics, contextualizing their critical position in the tensions between archival knowledge and lived repertoire in general, and specifically in relation to traumatic experiences of Yemenis in Israel. Finally, we discuss how the suspicion toward the archive is embedded in larger current discourses on “truth” and “facts” and how in this context, it can be beneficial to scrutinize tradition archives in a community setting.
המאמר עוסק במחקריה של גורית קדמן אודות הריקוד העממי של יהודי תימן, החל בשנות החמישים שבהן תיעדה מהגרים מתימן במעברות, וכלה בהקמת ‘המפעל לטיפוח ריקודי עדות‘ בשנות השבעים. המאמר מציג שני אירועים מרכזיים שיזם המפעל: פסטיבל ‘בואי תימן‘, שבו... more
המאמר עוסק במחקריה של גורית קדמן אודות הריקוד העממי
של יהודי תימן, החל בשנות החמישים שבהן תיעדה מהגרים מתימן
במעברות, וכלה בהקמת ‘המפעל לטיפוח ריקודי עדות‘ בשנות השבעים.
המאמר מציג שני אירועים מרכזיים שיזם המפעל: פסטיבל ‘בואי תימן‘, שבו
הציגו להקות פולקלור תימניות בפני קהל רחב, ו‘כינוס יהדות תימן‘ שריכז
מידענים וחוקרים לעשרה ימי מחקר ותיעוד. מקומה של קדמן באירועים
אלה נבחן לאור קשריה עם מתווכים שונים מבני הקהילה התימנית. בתוך
כך, נבחנת גישתה לחקר ריקוד עממי כמקרה מיוחד של תיעוד בעל פה,
וביחס למושגים אותנטיות ומורשת.
The episodes presented in this paper were recorded from Jewish women, who hail from the rural areas around the city of Ibb in Lower Yemen. They document personal experiences of the narrators as young girls, sent - daily - to graze the... more
The episodes presented in this paper were recorded from Jewish women, who hail from the rural areas around the city of Ibb in Lower Yemen. They document personal experiences of the narrators as young girls, sent - daily - to graze the family cow. Unlike in other areas of Yemen, the Jews of Lower Yemen traded lands and practiced crop and livestock farming. Cows, specifically, were found in many households. They were conceived as a symbol of financial secure for women, and their day-to-day management was the responsibility of mothers and their young unmarried daughters. Told from the personal point of view of the girls, our episodes reveal
the unique relationship that developed between the cows and their caregivers, and - on a broader level - they also open a window on the cultural values associated with cows in Yemenite folklore.
                All four episodes were told in the Arabic k-dialects, that are typical of Lower Yemen. Their language, however, is not altogether uniform, but rather represents three distinct dialectal varieties. In the closing section of the article we give the full texts in transcription, along with a concise linguistic description, highlighting some of the distinctive features of these varieties.
The archive of the late S.D.Goitein, stored at the Ben-Zvi Institute in Jerusalem, contains hundreds of hand-written transcribed texts in Yemeni-Arabic dialects, that were recorded in the early 1950s from Jewish immigrants from Yemen to... more
The archive of the late S.D.Goitein, stored at the Ben-Zvi Institute in Jerusalem, contains hundreds of hand-written transcribed texts in Yemeni-Arabic dialects, that were recorded in the early 1950s from Jewish immigrants from Yemen to Israel. In this essay we follow the evolution of the texts in this archive, pertaining to the trail from the oral narration to the written version. We propose to analyze each of these texts as a spiral narrative event, during which the story is told, re-told and recorded several times and in diverse manners, until it assumes its final, polished form. This multi-stage process is demonstrated here via a sample story, told by an immigrant from the province of Ibb in Lower Yemen. The archive preserves several versions of that story, the last of which appeared as part of Goitein’s article on the language of alGades in 1960.
The article opens with a brief description of the linguistic materials in the Goitein archive. We proceed to examine the triangular relationship between the researcher, the assistant and the informant, and propose that this triangle may account for the gaps between the original transmission and its written reproduction. We then define three strategies employed by the Yemenite assistant in transcribing the materials, namely Phonetic Writing, where allophones find their way into the transcript; Analytic Writing, revealing the assistant’s familiarity with Judaeo-Arabic writings; and Substitute Writing, where forms in the informant’s speech are replaced by their correlatives in the assistant’s own dialect. Finally, we point to several pitfalls that may hinder an accurate linguistic analysis of the texts, and propose ways to avoid them.
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ABSTRACT We evaluated the systematic relationship of the two sections of Raphanus (Brassicaceae) on the basis of morphological and ITS data. We obtained strong support that Raphanus is a polyphyletic group embedded in the Oleracea lineage... more
ABSTRACT We evaluated the systematic relationship of the two sections of Raphanus (Brassicaceae) on the basis of morphological and ITS data. We obtained strong support that Raphanus is a polyphyletic group embedded in the Oleracea lineage of the tribe Brassiceae. Section Raphanis, which includes Raphanus raphanistrum, R. pugioniformis and R. sativus, is a strongly supported monophyletic lineage. Section Hesperidopsis is embedded in a different lineage together with Brassica deflexa and B. aucheri. We propose to reinstate the genus Quidproquo in place of Raphanus sect. Hesperidopsis as reflected by both morphological data and ITS phylogeny.
Although small in size, the Mediterranean zone of Israel extends over a wide geo-climatic range. The native vegetation that characterizes the region varies throughout this range from sparse shrublands (Batha) to dense woodlands (Maquis).... more
Although small in size, the Mediterranean zone of Israel extends over a wide geo-climatic range. The native vegetation that characterizes the region varies throughout this range from sparse shrublands (Batha) to dense woodlands (Maquis). In the first half of the previous century this native vegetation was highly degraded in large portions of Israel's landscape. This may have provided the basic motivation for a comprehensive afforestation enterprise. Monospecific, coniferous forests were established in Israel mostly during 1950–1970, by applying a unified afforestation methodology over a wide range of habitat conditions. Under the protection and facilitation of these manmade forests, an understory layer of vegetation developed spontaneously comprising both recovering woodland species as well as regenerating conifers. The nature of this process varies widely depending on habitat conditions as well as on more human-related factors. Patterns of forest understory vegetation are inter...
Although small in size, the Mediterranean zone of Israel extends over a wide geo-climatic range. The native vegetation that characterizes the region varies throughout this range from sparse shrublands (Batha) to dense woodlands (Maquis).... more
Although small in size, the Mediterranean zone of Israel extends over a wide geo-climatic range. The native vegetation that characterizes the region varies throughout this range from sparse shrublands (Batha) to dense woodlands (Maquis). In the first half of the previous century this native vegetation was highly degraded in large portions of Israel's landscape. This may have provided the basic motivation for a comprehensive afforestation enterprise. Monospecific, coniferous forests were established in Israel mostly during 1950–1970, by applying a unified afforestation methodology over a wide range of habitat conditions. Under the protection and facilitation of these manmade forests, an understory layer of vegetation developed spontaneously comprising both recovering woodland species as well as regenerating conifers. The nature of this process varies widely depending on habitat conditions as well as on more human-related factors. Patterns of forest understory vegetation are inter...