إفريقيا في الفكر اليهودي: قراءة أولية في النص وتداعياته

Abstract EN

From many aspects, Africa's history is correlated closely with the Near East region and its consequent civilizations and traditions.

In this context, the theme of the Jewish perceptions of «Africa» since the early biblical times through the recent periods is gaining a gradual importance.

This article is trying to trace the above mentioned argument throughout various sources and a vast range of related literature in order to explore how originally the argument is.

While affirming that the article is only providing a preliminary reading, the author tended to discuss many aspects as much as possible.

First, the article reviewed the rich and complicated interpretations of what had been established as the «Ham Curse», and its relation to the racial identity of «Africans» or blacks in view of the biblical text and related insights.

Second, the article provided a very brief review of some historical contexts that the Jewish perceptions on Africa gain significant interest.

In order to touch another important aspect, the article paid its attention to reviewing the development of criticizing Jewish thought’s perception toward Africa, with a special focus on the 19th century sources.

Finally, the article provided few African responses to these Jewish perceptions on Africa, ranging from a traditional and conciliation-oriented point of views, such as the famous case of Edward Wilmot Blyden, to other much critical views.