The African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem (AHIJ) are a small (several thousand member) religious group who are concentrated primarily in the southern Israeli town of Dimona, but have members and congregations in the United States as well. At the head of the group since its inception has been the charismatic figure of Ben Ammi Ben Israel (né Ben Carter), who was called to his mission by the archangel Gabriel in 1966. Members of the group first arrived in Israel in 1969 having previously relocated from the United States to Liberia.
Initially, relations with successive Israeli governments were strained and at various points it appeared that an attempt would be made to deport members of the group. Not only had they overstayed their entry on tourist visas, but their claims to be the only true Israelites, descendants of ancient Hebrew tribes who had been exiled to Africa and then taken as slaves to the New World were viewed by most Israelis as fantastic and insulting. Attempts by members of the group to receive recognition form Israeli officials – both political and religious – as Jews were summarily rejected. In recent years both sides have modified and moderated their positions and relations have improved. Community members have been granted permanent resident status (and even citizenship) in Israel. A few young people serve in the Israeli Defense Forces.
Over a period of several decades, the AHIJ have been the subject of a handful of academic studies and a plethora of news stories, magazine articles, and documentary films. All too often these have focused on supporting or debunking the community's claim to be descendants of ancient Israelites. In addition, the community itself has produced numerous theological and historical tracts, films, and other writings, which present its history, veganism, theology, etc. The present volume by John L. Jackson, Jr, a professor of Communications, Anthropology, and Africana Studies at the University of Pennsylvania is the most comprehensive and sustained attempt to grapple with the many theoretical challenges posed by the group.
At the heart of Jackson's volume is the attempt to demonstrate that
the story of the AHIJ is not just a quirky talk about an eccentric spiritual ‘cult’, a characterization often used to justify dismissing any serious engagement with their idiosyncratic (to some, even offensive) ideas and endeavors. Instead, it is a valuable example of the complicated, ongoing negotiations with race, religion, and globalization that have always informed African Americans’ social, political, and economic aspirations (p. 9).
Most regular readers of The Journal of African History will not need much convincing on this point. Many characteristics of the AHIJ – including prophecy, healing, rereading of canonical texts, claims to both Israelite identity, and African authenticity – evoke themes reminiscent of African Independent Churches. Given their connections to Judaism, their location, and their unique take on the idea of diaspora, the AHIJ are a wonderful comparative case.
The reference to ‘Thin Description’ is obviously a nod to (and a wag of a finger at) Clifford Geertz's classic ‘Thick Description’. Jackson is deeply skeptical of anthropological authority particularly as found in the claiming of authority by piling detail upon detail. Indeed, in several of his notes he cautions the reader that his memory of events and statements may not be as precise as he might have hoped. Thus the division of the book's 327 pages into 45 chapters is in his view ‘forty-five different ways of telling the same story’ is not merely an organizational quirk, but a clear attempt to distance himself from classic ethnographies (p. 18).
Jackson is well aware of the potential criticisms of the ‘Thin-ness’ he champions. Indeed, early in the book, in something of a pre-emptive strike, he enumerates important themes which, while relevant to his concerns, are not treated in detail: these include Black Power; retheorizing race, religion, and nation; the whiteness of Jews; the community's veganism; and, the Black Atlantic.
The notes contain a wealth of references to recent works and are a testimony to the recent interest in Black Israelites in Africa and the Americas as well as the impact of the various ‘post-’ theories on ethnography. However, there is a certain carelessness in their compilation. For example, page 355 notes 4 and 5 both cite Bernal's Black Athena in full, but the latter note omits the full title of Mary Lefkowitz's Not out of Africa: How ‘Afrocentrism’ Became an Excuse to Teach Myth as History. In comparing thick ethnography to the maps ‘of ridiculous hyperthickness’ (p. 153) described by Lewis Carrol and Jorge Luis Borges, Jackson strangely omits a precise reference to Borges's ‘On Exactitude in Science’ in the note (p. 353, n. 11).
Ultimately, these are minor distractions. Although many scholars may ignore Jackson's study, those who devote their time to it will be richly rewarded, stimulated and entertained.
