The Jews of Andhra Pradesh Contesting Caste and Religion in South India

The Jews of Andhra Pradesh is an engaging and thought-provoking ethnography devoted to the Bene Ephraim--a Dalit group in India that has embraced Jewish tradition. Egorova and Perwez offer a nuanced and theoretically-informed account which explores how the story of the Bene Ephraim challenges and extends contemporary understandings of Jewishness and illuminates radical new directions in Dalit discourse.

Yulia Egorova is Senior Lecturer in Anthropology at Durham University. Her research interests include anthropology of Jewish communities and the relationship between science and religion. She is the author of Jews and India: Perceptions and Image, and a co-author (with Tudor Parfitt) of Genetics, Mass Media and Identity: A Case Study of the Genetic Research on the Lemba and Bene-Israel.
Shahid Perwez is a Fellow in International Development at the University of Bath. He has conducted ethnographic research involving long periods of fieldwork in Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Bihar. His research has explored issues of gender, health, social mobilization, religion and caste in India.