Event
Speaker: John L. Jackson, Jr. (Richard Perry University Professor of Communication, Anthropology & Africana Studies, University of Pennsylvania)
Click here to watch video of Prof. Jackson on his book, Thin Description.
Photos of the event on Facebook: Jewish Studies Program at the University of Pennsylvania.
Israel watchers of a certain age may remember that a group of African Americans, led by Chicago native, Ben Ammi Ben Israel Carter, settled in the Israeli development town of Dimona in the late 1960’s to create an intentional community there, after experiencing considerable hardship in Liberia.
That Dimona community, the African Hebrew Israelite Nation of Jerusalem, now number 5000 people. At the beginning of 2004, the group was granted permanent residency status by the Israeli Interior Ministry, and Israeli citizenship was first granted to one of the group’s members in 2009. Several members now serve in the Israeli army.
Less well-known to America’s Israel watchers are the beliefs of this group, or their elaborate health regimen. Residents of this area may not even know that the African Hebrew Israelite Nation of Jerusalem has affliated groups in Philadelphia.
Join Penn Anthropology Professor John Jackson, as he discusses the Dimona community and its worldwide affiliates, at the U of P on Feb 27th, 2014 at 5:30 PM, Irvine Hall (34th and Spruce Street), Cafe 58.
A visitor from Dimona, and ranking leader of the African Hebrew Israelite Nation of Jerusalem will also be present, as will local Philadelphians who adhere to the teachings of this group and live by its its holistic health regimen. Following the presentation, audience members will be invited to mingle at a vegan reception, and to buy John Jackson’s new book, Thin Description: Thin Description: Ethnography and the African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem.
Annual Silvers Visiting Scholar Program through the Jewish Studies Program.
Vegan reception to follow the lecture.
Free and open to public. Let us know you are coming, but RSVP not mandatory.