A Jewel in the Crown:

Thousands of Jews emigrated from the Arab world since the late 18th century and settled in the Indian subcontinent, which had increasingly come under British domination. Since most of them had hailed from Baghdad, they became known in India as »Baghdadis«. Their history has since been interpreted and recounted accordingly: they were said to have held on to their Baghdadi traditions, to have identified themselves as Baghdadis or Babylonians and to have formed »satellite communities« that allegedly orbited around the spiritual center of Baghdad.

Can the history of the Baghdadis in India only be told within a Baghdadi framework, and only in relation to Baghdad? In what ways did their experience overseas continue their Baghdadi history and at which points did it diverge from it? These questions propel the present dissertation project, which seeks to reconstruct a history of Arabian Jews and British India. By shifting the focus to India and its local contexts, but without losing sight of the Arab countries of origin, this study hopes to gain a fresh perspective on the history of Eastern Jewry as a whole. Rather than interpreting Jewish-Arabian history in India as a mere continuation of Baghdad, this perspective emphasizes the significance of British India as a site of Jewish emancipation, acculturation and enlightenment; a generator of new Jewish identities and imaginations; and a significant hub of Jewish mobility.