Histórias de judaísmos : identidades e trocas culturais em comunidades judaicas do século XII por intermédio dos escritos de Maimônides (1138-1204) e Benjamim de Tudela (1130-1173)

Abstract

Many times, the history of the Jews was thought and written under a nationalist and essentialist bias, which was produced in specific contexts. In contrast to several conservative historical trends in which a historiography of origins and identity purisms was presented, we present a more diversified history of the Jews, in which processes of cultural exchange were possible, even though tensions and conflicts also occurred. Throughout the 12th century, most of the Jewish communities around the Mediterranean under Islamic rule or under Christianity, albeit at different levels, prospered and their members were able to ascend socially, interact with their peers in society and have access to knowledge. of your time. Amidst plural contexts, new ways of thinking about Judaism emerged giving cultural and religious nuances to Jewish history. Sephardic authors such as Maimonides and Benjamin de Tudela lay bare the plurality of part of this medieval Jewish world. For this historical undertaking, we used the philosophical book Maimonides' Guide to the Perplexed and the travel book The Itinerary of Benjamin de Tudela as sources to study and understand the 12th century Jewish communities. When dealing with the sources, we interpret them critically to extract more than the contexts in which they were written, but also the possible intentions and ideologies that the authors relied on. Concepts such as fluid identity and hybrid culture helped us to understand the process of cultural exchange that took place between Jews and their peers, as well as the social, economic and political situations that led to such contacts. From the perspective of the Global History approach, we observe the dimension of connectivity and the nodal points where such processes occurred.