Presenter Information

Shuki Ecker, Touro College

Description

The texts were selected in light of the general question: what kind of records did Ottoman Jewish communities maintain as part of their regular communal activities. They were further chosen to reflect procedures, considerations and conflicts that accompanied record keeping and were not usually recorded in the actual records produced. In most cases the records kept by the communities before the 19th century are no longer available. While references to the existence of various records can be found in a variety of contemporary and later sources (some of which I will mention), the texts translated offer a short selection of stories from “behind the scenes”. Reading the texts in terms of record keeping attest also to awareness, expectations, realities, usage, availability and relative importance attached to certain kinds of records. The texts will be mined for explicit and implicit conceptions and understandings of the records created in communal and personal levels, how were they preserved, used and accessed after being created, and what were their practical and legal implications. The evidence offered by these “stories” about records would be considered in three general categories – reflecting certain stages in the life of the records – initial construction, and later reconstructions and deconstructions.

Start Date

17-8-2017 11:00 AM

End Date

17-8-2017 12:00 PM

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Aug 17th, 11:00 AM Aug 17th, 12:00 PM

Construction, Reconstruction and Deconstruction: Stories about Records from the Ottoman Heartlands

The texts were selected in light of the general question: what kind of records did Ottoman Jewish communities maintain as part of their regular communal activities. They were further chosen to reflect procedures, considerations and conflicts that accompanied record keeping and were not usually recorded in the actual records produced. In most cases the records kept by the communities before the 19th century are no longer available. While references to the existence of various records can be found in a variety of contemporary and later sources (some of which I will mention), the texts translated offer a short selection of stories from “behind the scenes”. Reading the texts in terms of record keeping attest also to awareness, expectations, realities, usage, availability and relative importance attached to certain kinds of records. The texts will be mined for explicit and implicit conceptions and understandings of the records created in communal and personal levels, how were they preserved, used and accessed after being created, and what were their practical and legal implications. The evidence offered by these “stories” about records would be considered in three general categories – reflecting certain stages in the life of the records – initial construction, and later reconstructions and deconstructions.