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Jewish converts, their communities and experiences of social inclusion and exclusion in post-apartheid South Africa
Set in a small minority community in South Africa, the Orthodox Jewish com-munity in Johannesburg, this study explores why a person would actively and volun-tarily seek minority status by converting into an ethnic-religious minority group. Taking a social constructionist approach to understanding re...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Department of Sociology
2017
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| _version_ | 1867613242599145472 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Kriel, Elli |
| author2 | Sitas, Ari |
| author_browse | Kriel, Elli Sitas, Ari |
| author_facet | Sitas, Ari Kriel, Elli |
| author_sort | Kriel, Elli |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | Set in a small minority community in South Africa, the Orthodox Jewish com-munity in Johannesburg, this study explores why a person would actively and volun-tarily seek minority status by converting into an ethnic-religious minority group. Taking a social constructionist approach to understanding religious conversion, it is argued that religious conversion to Orthodox Judaism is also a social process of becoming ethnically "Jewish". In this study, two types of converts are considered, namely con-verts who come to Judaism through marriage and converts for religious purposes. Through in-depth-interviews with rabbis and converts, experiences of social inclusion and exclusion, and the meaning of conversions is understood. This study finds that regardless of the path to conversion, belonging and identity are key reasons for con-version, and that it is an ethnic process that serves group and individual needs recip-rocally. At an individual level, becoming Jewish through conversion helps avoid social exclusion and achieves other social inclusions by acquiring membership in new com-munities and by forming new social identities. At a group level, the research shows that religious conversion is part of the group's broader concern for maintaining ethnic boundaries and is therefore an element of the politics of belonging. The research shows how conversion to a minority ethnic group in a plural environment becomes a social means to protect ethnic identity and avoid assimilation. By understanding con-version as the politics of belonging, the research explores the subjective experiences of citizenship at a group and individual level. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/25343 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:33:01.081Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publishDateRange | 2017 |
| publishDateSort | 2017 |
| publisher | Department of Sociology |
| publisherStr | Department of Sociology |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/25343 Jewish converts, their communities and experiences of social inclusion and exclusion in post-apartheid South Africa Kriel, Elli Sitas, Ari Sociology Sociology of Religion Set in a small minority community in South Africa, the Orthodox Jewish com-munity in Johannesburg, this study explores why a person would actively and volun-tarily seek minority status by converting into an ethnic-religious minority group. Taking a social constructionist approach to understanding religious conversion, it is argued that religious conversion to Orthodox Judaism is also a social process of becoming ethnically "Jewish". In this study, two types of converts are considered, namely con-verts who come to Judaism through marriage and converts for religious purposes. Through in-depth-interviews with rabbis and converts, experiences of social inclusion and exclusion, and the meaning of conversions is understood. This study finds that regardless of the path to conversion, belonging and identity are key reasons for con-version, and that it is an ethnic process that serves group and individual needs recip-rocally. At an individual level, becoming Jewish through conversion helps avoid social exclusion and achieves other social inclusions by acquiring membership in new com-munities and by forming new social identities. At a group level, the research shows that religious conversion is part of the group's broader concern for maintaining ethnic boundaries and is therefore an element of the politics of belonging. The research shows how conversion to a minority ethnic group in a plural environment becomes a social means to protect ethnic identity and avoid assimilation. By understanding con-version as the politics of belonging, the research explores the subjective experiences of citizenship at a group and individual level. 2017-09-23T06:25:16Z 2017-09-23T06:25:16Z 2017 Doctoral Thesis Doctoral PhD http://hdl.handle.net/11427/25343 eng application/pdf Department of Sociology Faculty of Humanities University of Cape Town |
| spellingShingle | Sociology Sociology of Religion Kriel, Elli Jewish converts, their communities and experiences of social inclusion and exclusion in post-apartheid South Africa |
| thesis_degree_str | Doctoral |
| title | Jewish converts, their communities and experiences of social inclusion and exclusion in post-apartheid South Africa |
| title_full | Jewish converts, their communities and experiences of social inclusion and exclusion in post-apartheid South Africa |
| title_fullStr | Jewish converts, their communities and experiences of social inclusion and exclusion in post-apartheid South Africa |
| title_full_unstemmed | Jewish converts, their communities and experiences of social inclusion and exclusion in post-apartheid South Africa |
| title_short | Jewish converts, their communities and experiences of social inclusion and exclusion in post-apartheid South Africa |
| title_sort | jewish converts their communities and experiences of social inclusion and exclusion in post apartheid south africa |
| topic | Sociology Sociology of Religion |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/25343 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT krielelli jewishconvertstheircommunitiesandexperiencesofsocialinclusionandexclusioninpostapartheidsouthafrica |