Unorthodox Kin: Portuguese Marranos and the Global Search for Belonging

by Naomi Leite

Unorthodox Kin is a lively, readable exploration of "chosen" identity, kin, and community in a global era. Anthropologist Naomi Leite examines the complexity of how we know ourselves -- who we "really" are -- and how we recognize others as strangers or kin through the case of Portugal's "Marranos", people in Lisbon and Porto who identify as descendants of 15th-century Portuguese and Spanish Jews who were forcibly converted to Catholicism. As the book's story unfolds, these individuals are first dismissed by the local Portuguese Jewish community as "non-Jews" and then embraced by foreign Jewish tourists and other visitors, who are fascinated to meet a remnant of Portugal's "lost" medieval Jewish population. Drawing on more than a decade of participatory research, Leite explores how both the Marranos' and their visitors' perceptions of self, peoplehood, and belonging are transformed through their face-to-face encounters with one another. Written in a compelling, first-person narrative style, this acclaimed book will appeal to a wide audience.Accolades: Finalist, National Jewish Book Award (2017) * StIrling Prize for Best Book in Psychological Anthropology (2018) * Graburn Prize for Best First Book in Anthropology of Tourism (2018) * Honorable Mention, Douglass Prize for Best Book in Europeanist Anthropology (2018)

Genres: Anthropology

343 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 7, 2017

Reviews

[Owlseyes]

(Oporto synagogue)

(Jewish Community of Oporto)

Unorthodox Kin: Portuguese Marranos and the Global Search for Belonging
Naomi Leite
in: https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/boo...

[annabelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was such a great book on analyzing the development of identity, especially with the outsider category of Marranos. it was so good that i’m willing to buy the hardcover copy to read it again in a physical form.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked up this book after listening to a lecture by the author. Leite looks at people in Portugal who concluded that not only were they descended from Jews but they themselves were and always have been Jews. This is an anthropological study on belonging, group identity and group formation. Readers will find a most fascinating journey here. I found the book difficult to put down.

[Mills College Library]

305.8924 L5334 2017