Ottoman Jews in Paris

(Coming Soon!)

I’m working on a book that dives into the lives of Ottoman Jewish immigrants living in Paris in the 1920s, 30s and 40s.

Boiled down, it’s a study about a migrant community’s search for the nebulous, elusive sensation that is belonging. The story takes place during a period of global transformation. After the demise of the empire that most Ottoman Jews called home, members of this multilingual diaspora resettled in post-World War I France — a country that they viewed as inherently accessible and welcoming to immigrants, but that was, in reality, undergoing its own sort of identity crisis.

The result (I hope) is a portrait of a rich and diverse community, eager to settle in a new land while keeping feet in multiple worlds.

Digging Up Documents

I see archival research as a form of detective work: an investigation into past lived experiences.

For this book, that detective work took me around the globe, to collections in Paris, Geneva, Madrid, Athens, Jerusalem and Washington.

Over 3+ years, I read and translated thousands of documents written in six languages, including historical newspapers, citizenship applications and personal papers.

By piecing together archival snippets, I found myself tracing the biographies of over 500 individual immigrants who left the southeastern Mediterranean to settle in France. By diving into all sorts of dusty documents — employment permits, residential leases, tax documents, marriage certificates, associational memberships and criminal records — I learned how Ottoman Jewish immigrants found security, built relationships and lived their lives in the French capital.

Funding

Research for my book was supported by fellowships and grants from the American Jewish Joint Distribution Community, the Claims Conference, the German Historical Institute and Max Weber Stiftung, UNC Chapel Hill, Northwestern University, Duke University and other generous organizations.

A full list of grants and awards can be found in my academic CV.