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Black and off -white: An investigation of African American and Jewish conflict from Ashkenazic Jewish American perspectives
Abstract
In recent decades, increased attention has been turned to tensions and conflicts between African Americans and American Jews on the individual, organizational, and societal levels. When investigating the perceptions each group has of the other, however, research has focused disproportionately on African American perceptions of Jews (and specifically on African American anti-Semitism) without a corresponding indepth investigation of Jewish attitudes, opinions, and beliefs about African Americans and how Jews make meaning of the relationship or conflict. The current study, which was exploratory and descriptive, employed a qualitative research methodology and attempted to identify, describe, and analyze intergenerational Jewish perceptions the concepts of “race” and “white privilege,” and perceptions of African Americans and the relationships and/or conflict between African Americans and Jewish Americans. The study used a methodology consisting of two one-and-one-half hour interview session with each participant. The interview framework was consistent with, for example, Coffey and Atkinson, 1996; Marshall and Rossman, 1998; Maxwell, 1996; Patton, 1980; Seidman, 1998. It provided the opportunity to delve deeply into the often subtle themes expressed by research participants, and provided a greater understanding of their lived experiences and the ways they made meaning of these experiences in their own words. This methodology also helped in examining the ways in which people's experiences interacted with social and institutional forces, and aided in discovering the interconnections between and among individuals within a shared context and between generations. The study had as its theoretical foundation a taxonomy of intergroup conflict theory based on four distinct though interrelated levels: Realistic-Group-Conflict Theory, Sociopsychological Theories of Intergroup Conflict, Social Identity Theory, and Theories of Cross-Cultural Styles in Conflict. Research participants included sixteen Jewish Americans (primarily of Ashkenazic heritage), with an equal number of females and males of disparate ages (from 19 to 56), and across a wide spectrum of Jewish religious affiliations (from Orthodox Hasidic to Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist, to those approaching Secular). This study will contribute to the educational literature base, and will it hold theoretical and practical significance for classroom educators, conflict resolution and mediation specialists, and community-based coalition organizers. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)
Subject Area
Higher education|American studies|Minority & ethnic groups|Sociology
Recommended Citation
Blumenfeld, Warren Jay, "Black and off -white: An investigation of African American and Jewish conflict from Ashkenazic Jewish American perspectives" (2001). Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest. AAI3012115.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI3012115