Kinesthetic Peoplehood

Kinesthetic Peoplehood: Jewish Diasporic Dance Migrations explores how people experience diaspora not only through geography or shared histories of exile and displacement, but also through the body itself. Drawing upon extensive archival materials, interviews, and ethnographic research, this book demonstrates how dance embodies the cultural migrations at the heart of Jewish experience. Focusing on the circulation of Jewish diasporic cultural production across Israel and the United States between the Cold War and Covid, this book illuminates how American Jewish audiences connected with Israel through performances and classes with Israeli choreographers who immigrated to or toured through the United States. Through their performances, these choreographers offered audiences diverse perspectives on global Jewish cultures. Kinesthetic Peoplehood highlights dance migrations from the Middle East, South Asia, Africa, and queer communities to revise conventional diasporic narratives and hierarchies. Kinesthetic Peoplehood expands our understanding of diasporic dance practices. It brings a fresh perspective to broader conversations about Israeli theatrical dance by centering Mizrahi, Ethiopian, and queer Jewish dance histories often marginalized in historical discourse to pose diaspora as a bodily experience in which people find home.