An encyclopedic survey of the Jewish body as it has existed and as it has been imagined from biblical times to the present That the human body can be the object not only of biological study but also of historical consideration and cultural criticism is now widely accepted. But why, Robert Jutte asks, should a historian bother with the Jewish body in particular? And is the "Jewish body" as much a concept constructed over the course of centuries by Jews and non-Jews alike as it is a physical reality? To comprehend the notion and existence of a Jewish body, he contends, one needs to look both at the images and traits that have been ascribed to Jews by themselves and others, and to the specific bodily practices that have played an important role in creating the identity of a religious and cultural community. Jutte has written an encyclopedic survey of the Jewish body as it has existed and as it has been imagined from biblical times to the present, often for anti-Jewish purposes. He examines the techniques for caring for the body that Jews acquire in childhood from parents and authority figures and how these have changed over the course of a more than 2000-year history, most of it spent in exile. From consideration of traditional body stereotypes, such as the so-called Jewish nose, to matters of gender and sexuality, sickness and health, and the inevitable end of the body in death, The Jewish Body explores the historical foundations of the human physis in all its aspects.

This collected volume is dedicated to Prof Hans Otto Horch on the occasion of his 65th birthday. Prof. Horch has done much to enrich the academic processing of the history of German-Jewish literature and culture. The wide range of his interests is reflected in these papers by internationally-renowned Germanists, historians and cultural researchers, who are concerned with Jewish identity against the background of Jewish-Christian relations in the German-speaking world from the Early Modern Age up to the present day.

A study of the development of prisons, hospitals and insane asylums in America and Europe that grew out of discussions between its two editors about their work on the history of hospitals, poor relief, deviance, and crime, and a subsequent conference that attempted to assess the impacts of Foucault and Elias. Seventeen contributors from six different countries with backgrounds in history, sociology and criminology utilize various methodological approaches and reflect the various viewpoints in the theoretical debate over Foucault's work.

A major interdisciplinary study of the development of prisons, hospitals and insane asylums in America and Europe, this book resulted from discussions between its two editors about their work on the history of hospitals, poor relief, deviance, and crime, and a subsequent conference held in 1992 by the German Historical Institute that attempted to assess the impacts of Foucault and Elias. Seventeen contributors from six different countries with backgrounds in history, sociology and criminology utilize various methodological approaches and reflect the various viewpoints in the theoretical debate over Foucault's work.

This study provides an accessible and authoritative account of poverty and deviance during the early modern period, informed by those new perspectives on the role of the poor themselves in the provision of welfare services characteristic of much recent social history. Contrary to the once-traditional historical emphasis on the ameliorative role of individual reformers, Professor JÜtte's account looks much more closely at the poor themselves, and the complex network of social and communal relationships they inhabited.