Judaism in the Suburban Home 1945-1975
Lead Research Organisation:
Queen Mary University of London
Department Name: Geography
Abstract
This research is a collaborative doctorate between Queen Mary University of London and The Geffrye Museum. This research will explore the Jewish community that moved from the East End of London into suburban homes in East and North London in the post-war years. It aims to explore changes in their religious practices and ethnic identity with emphasis on the home. The focus will be on the post World war II period and aims to examine a period that is not analysed in detail by the existing historiography of British Jewry, for example Endleman. This research aims to explore the impact on an immigrant community and the changes brought about by leaving a crowded East End environment into the less intimate London suburbs.
By focusing on the home, this project examines the meaning of home to the Jewish community, including religious practices in the home such as religious festivals and life cycle events, material culture and dietary laws. Suburban life entailed significant shifts in political identity and associational
life for Jews. This research will examine issues around secularisation and assimilation including how Jewish religious and social practices were reshaped, rather than abandoned, in new domestic spaces and suburban neighbourhoods, and by new technologies. It will also look at the ways that Jewish experience of class mobility was enacted in the suburban household, in particular with regard to gender roles and expectations, and the way these changes were expressed in the aesthetics of the Jewish home. It will consider to what extent the multi-ethnic suburb, compared with areas of initial immigrant settlement, offered new opportunities for social mixing and how these encounters were experienced in domestic spaces. The project will address the following research questions:
1.How did Jewish domestic religious practice change in the move from urban to suburban residency?
2. How were class and gendered identities negotiated in relation to domestic religious practice?
3. What meanings were attached to the suburban home in Jewish media and literary culture?
4. How were distinctions between orthodox, United Synagogue and the emergent Reform and Liberal movements manifested in domestic practice?
5. Does a focus on the home complicate current scholarly understandings of 'assimilation' or 'acculturation'?
6. Did the London Jewish suburban home have a distinctive aesthetic?
7. How did Jews interact with non-Jews in London suburban homes?
My methodology will include up to twenty oral histories. I will also examine the existing oral histories at the Jewish Museum. These will be analysed alongside a range of other resources including memoirs, plays, novels, cookery books and records of social and philanthropic organizations.
By focusing on the home, this project examines the meaning of home to the Jewish community, including religious practices in the home such as religious festivals and life cycle events, material culture and dietary laws. Suburban life entailed significant shifts in political identity and associational
life for Jews. This research will examine issues around secularisation and assimilation including how Jewish religious and social practices were reshaped, rather than abandoned, in new domestic spaces and suburban neighbourhoods, and by new technologies. It will also look at the ways that Jewish experience of class mobility was enacted in the suburban household, in particular with regard to gender roles and expectations, and the way these changes were expressed in the aesthetics of the Jewish home. It will consider to what extent the multi-ethnic suburb, compared with areas of initial immigrant settlement, offered new opportunities for social mixing and how these encounters were experienced in domestic spaces. The project will address the following research questions:
1.How did Jewish domestic religious practice change in the move from urban to suburban residency?
2. How were class and gendered identities negotiated in relation to domestic religious practice?
3. What meanings were attached to the suburban home in Jewish media and literary culture?
4. How were distinctions between orthodox, United Synagogue and the emergent Reform and Liberal movements manifested in domestic practice?
5. Does a focus on the home complicate current scholarly understandings of 'assimilation' or 'acculturation'?
6. Did the London Jewish suburban home have a distinctive aesthetic?
7. How did Jews interact with non-Jews in London suburban homes?
My methodology will include up to twenty oral histories. I will also examine the existing oral histories at the Jewish Museum. These will be analysed alongside a range of other resources including memoirs, plays, novels, cookery books and records of social and philanthropic organizations.
| Description | My findings refute a number of myths associated with religion in the suburbs and the move out of the East End by Anglo-Jewry in the post-war period into the suburbs. The reality of the journey to the suburbs, although viewed as aspirational, presented both benefits and challenges. My research demonstrates complex and sometimes contradictory experiences of the post-war Jewish suburban home and this was most strongly evidenced in family negotiations around domestic religious practice, Jewish identity and religious survival. Domestic religious practice faced competition from outside influences especially in relation to integration with non-Jewish culture. I argue that religion in the suburban home was not a simple narrative of decreased observance, rather it was personal, anxiety-provoking and complex. My research also reveals that home exists on many scales, and examines the home as a site of political engagement particularly for women. I have also found a useful methodology by examining responses to literature that described the Jewish community at this time. Literature enabled participants to remember narratives as well as make reflections about the past. This suggests that literature may be a useful methodology for memory work. |
| Exploitation Route | I have started to work with existing projects in care homes. I was influenced by the level of loneliness experienced among the older population and am collaborating with the Geffrye museum and Jewish community to develop projects with this demographic. |
| Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Education,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Description | My findings have been used to influence the home and religion gallery at the Geffrye Museum opening in 2020. My research has also informed their faith and culture forum. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2016 |
| Sector | Education,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Impact Types | Cultural,Societal |
| Description | Public Engagement With the Geffrye Museum of the Home |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Secured funding with the Geffrye Museum to make a short film on memories of Jewish home cooking. Collaborated with film maker, interviewed participants, transliterated subtitles, edited. The film was exhibited in the Home Thoughts Gallery at the Geffrye Museum for six months in 2017. Active contributor involved in developing content and ideas for the new room focusing on religion as part of the permanent Home Gallery at the Geffrye Museum, which will open in 2020. Both the temporary Home Thoughts display and the Home Gallery represent the first time that the Geffrye has displayed material on home and religion. Active member of the Centre for Studies of Home, a partnership between QMUL and the Geffrye Museum of the Home, working with other researchers and museum professionals on home and religion. This has involved presenting my research at annual Postgraduate Study Days, Research in Progress Days, and at conferences, including one that I co-convened on 'Home and Religion' in October 2018. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://www.geffrye-museum.org.uk/ |