Whose Culture Is It?

By Tom Teicholz

URL: http://www.jewishjournal.com/arts/article/whose_culture_is_it_20050121/

When Eminem (who is white) is the most popular rapper, Tiger Woods (who is part African American and part Asian) is the greatest golfer and Serena and Venus Williams (African Americans) dominate women's tennis, should it upset us that Jewish Culture Festivals are run by non-Jews for audiences of primarily non-Jews, and that klezmer music is performed by non-Jewish performers for non-Jewish audiences?

These thoughts came to mind reading Ruth Ellen Gruber's "Virtually Jewish" (University of California, 2002), an account of the renaissance of Jewish culture in Europe often in places where Jews no longer live, and a discussion of the complexities and contradictions it has engendered.

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Comments:	A friend has recommended you read the following from The Jewish Journal... Whose Culture Is It? When Eminem (who is white) is the most popular rapper, Tiger Woods (who is part African American and part Asian) is the greatest golfer and Serena and Venus Williams (African Americans) dominate women's tennis, should it upset us that Jewish Culture Festivals are run by non-Jews for audiences of primarily non-Jews, and that klezmer music is performed by non-Jewish performers for non-Jewish audiences? These thoughts came to mind reading Ruth Ellen Gruber's "Virtually Jewish" (University of California, 2002), an account of the renaissance of Jewish culture in Europe often in places where Jews no longer live, and a discussion of the complexities and contradictions it has engendered. http://www.jewishjournal.com/arts/article/whose_culture_is_it_20050121/ Sign up for our free email news alerts at http://www.jewishjournal.com/email.

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