Tova Gamliel is professor of anthropology at Bar-Ilan University, Israel. Her academic identity is that of an existential anthropologist. She is also the author of Old Age with a Gleam in the Eyes and End of Story: Meaning, Identity, Old Age.
The author's participant observation fieldwork in Israel includes
extensive interviews of 24 practitioners of this art. Drawing on
the methods and theories of anthropology and psychology and with
extensive documentation, Gamliel creatively develops a rather
original theory to explain the particular practice among Jewish
Yemenites and the reasons for its gradual demise. . . Of particular
interest to scholars of mortuary practice, Middle Eastern and
Jewish society, religion and gender, and, possibly,
ethnomusicology.--L. D. Loeb "Choice"
The emotional weight that this subject involves can at times make
the reading hard going, but Gamliel's careful exploration of the
subject makes the challenge a worthwhile endeavor. Tightly situated
within the theoretical material that considers other wailing
cultures, acts of performance, and connection between mourning and
cathartic expressions of grief, Gamliel's work offers a
comprehensive and nuanced examination of the culture she explores.
She also highlights the unusual nature of describing a culture
removed from the society that produced it.--Rachel S. Harris "H-Net
Reviews"
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