Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book focusing on the literary works of Sephardic and Mizrahi Jewish authors in contemporary Israel and in the Diaspora – written in languages such as Hebrew, French, English, Spanish and Italian – the volume discusses crucial issues of Jewish identity and ethnicity. It connects them to contemporary Israeli society, to North African and Middle Eastern (Jewish) legacies and to the memories of a now vanished – yet not forgotten – past. The book offers the possibility to look at the political dimension that Sephardic literary and artistic production entails, understanding the role of Jewish migrants, or in this case of their sons, as a minority that – due to its long history of interethnic and interreligious cohabitation – can also engage in radical political movements or more generally in the social sphere.