Jewish Autonomy in a Slave Society

"Jewish Autonomy in a Slave Society sets a new standard in scholarship for early American Jewish history. Exceptionally well grounded in archival sources yet solidly framed within theoretical frameworks, it problematizes Jewish subalterity archetypes and the triumphalism of early American Jewish history. Clearing a path toward understanding Jewish creolization, it is a model of transdisciplinarity, blending equal expertise in Jewish and Atlantic studies. Lastly, it is a highly effective communal history of the Jews in Suriname." (AJS Review) "[I]mpeccably researched, and compellingly written…Ben-Ur makes a number of important points in her work – points that will force scholars to re-evaluate their interpretations of Jewish history in Suriname, the Americas, and, indeed, the Atlantic World…[T]his work will likely become a jumping off point for all sorts of exciting new research in the field of Jewish, Caribbean, and Atlantic histories, and it will serve as a model for how to approach tricky, complicated and entangled histories." (Journal of Early American History) "This book is a delight to read. The author combines an evident expertise in the historiographies of both Atlantic and Jewish history with a commendable knowledge of the relevant archival sources in a number of languages, and on top of that manages to write in a tone that is at once lucid and evocative. Jewish Autonomy in a Slave Society is a major accomplishment." (Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History) "Aviva Ben-Ur's brilliant new history of Suriname's Portuguese Jews not only illuminates the colonial formation of a major Atlantic Jewish community but also maps important new methodological and conceptual directions for the nascent field of Caribbean Jewish studies." (American Jewish History) "Ben-Ur's monograph is undoubtedly the most significant and meticulous historical study of Suriname's Jewish community. Jewish Autonomy in a Slave Society contains nuanced discussions of race, community, and Jewish emancipation and demonstrates the intersection of these fluid categories. Ben-Ur has produced a remarkable resource that belongs on the bookshelves of all Atlantic world scholars." (William and Mary Quarterly) "The importance of studying transnational histories such as Jewish Autonomy in a Slave Society cannot be overstated in providing a framework to understanding Jewish diaspora intermediaries in the process of colonization in the Atlantic world… [A] superbly researched history." (Religious Studies Review) "When a gifted and learned scholar like Aviva Ben-Ur writes a volume on the political and social history of the Jews of Suriname, one is wise to pay heed… With her great linguistic skills and the comparisons Ben-Ur is able to make with other colonial societies, she sets the bar high for future scholarship… Ben-Ur has written an exemplary study of the Surinamese Jews." (NTT Journal for Theology and the Study of Religion) "In Jewish Autonomy in a Slave Society, Aviva Ben-Ur contributes an important study to the history of creolization by centering the Jewish community in Suriname. She explores the role of the community in an emblematic Caribbean slave colony and narrates the understudied history of a society that was created by the entanglement of African and Jewish cultures." (Karwan Fatah-Black, Leiden University) "Aviva Ben-Ur provides a fascinating glimpse into a Dutch Atlantic world that most of us know little about and a portrait of Jewish life in a slave society that is not only important but also at odds with what we usually understand." (Trevor Burnard, University of Hull)