Magazine Transition 105 - Blacks, Jews, and Black Jews

The American magazine Transition 105, of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute, is teeming with thorny questions about being black in a global context.

Even the “Black-Jewish Question,” traditionally an American obsession, gains complexity when it involves a half-Kenyan president, Israel, or Igbo Jews celebrating Hanukkah in Abuja. Three writers explore three different intersections of the tribe and the people.

And the issue follows several more journeys through the Diaspora in search of black meaning. A review of the new biography of Marcus Garvey, transatlantic hero, celebrates ties between Africa and the Americas, just as Bayo Holsey questions Wole Soyinka’s reading of Africa’s role in the slave trade.

And amid these abstract tides of history, pushing back and forth, individuals are caught in small eddies: an African American anthropologist visits Brazil and has trouble getting back home; an American daughter of South African parents floats like a ghost between different cultures of death; a black writer can’t quite find home in Harlem. With the idea of home in transition, at least all these ideas find a home in Transition.

Born in Africa and bred in the Diaspora, Transition is a unique forum for the freshest, most compelling, most curious ideas about race. Since its founding in 1961, the magazine has kept apace of the rapid transformation of the black world and has remained a leading forum of intellectual debate. Now, in an age that demands ceaseless improvisation, we aim to be both an anchor of deep reflection on black life and a map charting new routes through the globalized world.

For more information go http://dubois.fas.harvard.edu/transition-105

5 Comments

  1. You seemed to be going down an intriguing path when you said that, "three writers explore three different intersections of the tribe and the people." But you may have missed an opportunity when nothing further was presented about those intersections. I would love to hear more about the intersections suggested by Transition 105.

    And to add to the subject, there is an intersection between the Jews, North Africa and Cape Verde. You can find some of that here: http://greatcvadventure.blogspot.com/2011/05/cape-verdes-enduring-jewish-heritage.html

    BTW, that's my blog. And anyone is always welcome to comment directly there.

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  2. Angelo, it's the editor's introduction :)

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  3. Dear Afro-Europe,
    Thanks for posting about our current issue of Transition! Anyone who would like to learn more can view the issue on JSTOR with university library access, or can purchase a subscription here: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/transition.issue-105

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  4. Also, the link above to our website doesn't seem to be working. Please try http://dubois.fas.harvard.edu/transition-magazine

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  5. Sara B, thanks! The link works now.

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