Translatio andalusiae. Constructing local Jewish identity in southern France

This article explores the question of national group cohesion among the Jews of southern France. The numerous political borders and the expulsion of the Jews from Languedoc (1306) afford us the opportunity to examine local - Provençal - Jewish group identity, in contrast to a broader Jewish conception of nationhood. An analysis of some Hebrew documents demonstrates the signiicance of the expulsion of the Jews as the "destruction of my native land". This is one enlightening example of a unitary socio-cultural conception of the Provençal region, which did not recognize political borders. In contrast to the perception of global Jewish unity we ind a historical consciousness of the unique local character of the region. The primary marker of this Provençal identity was their Andalusian Jewish tradition.