The Lemba Clan, Are They Real Jews
Black Jews of South Africa: biological and cultural constructions of identity
November 19, 2002 Text: 11 pages Figures: 2 pages Bibliography: 3 pages
Introduction Walking through the Venda Plaza shopping center in Thohoyandou, South Africa, R dai ae ta a ad a tm ,T aioe f Jws bo e . Gv g i a uznw vdo m n n si o e“ hts n o my e i rt r” i n h d h hs i m pzl ytn i e l kh ep i d“a a l k e . cm f m I al l gi e uz d ei r ud o ,e xln ,Im Ba Jw We a er s eao t e tg o ae c o r n m aoT e hv poe iwt gns N t nowing what to say and not having heard about this g. hy ae rvdt i ee. o k h ” before, I let his statement pass. My time in South Africa was devoted to working with a victim empowerment program, but I continued to wonder about the idea of Black Jews. The Black Jew or Lemba population creates a blip on a cultural map of sub-Saharan Africa. When researchers discovered and studied them over the last fifteen years, the Lemba also made a blip on the genetic map of sub-Saharan Africa. Genetic analysis of the Lemba has focused primarily on the Y chromosome, which is useful for studying variation among and distance between populations. The Lemba genetic markers support the oral tradition which says the Lemba came from the north. This paper reviews biological and cultural studies of the Lemba and the correlation between genes and oral tradition to propose a biocultural history for the Lemba people. Biology Genetic Variation across Populations Much of the study of genetic variation has focused on dissimilarity between groups. Genetic variation over time is used to postulate about the place and time of the origins of modern humans as well as subsequent movement and migration. Genetic variation is the greatest in Africa, and it is reasoned that the longer a group has been around, the more variation it will have in its gene pool. Additionally, the longer groups are apart, the greater their genetic distance (Cavalli-Sforza and Cavalli-Sforza, 1995). Maps of variation show
November 19, 2002 Text: 11 pages Figures: 2 pages Bibliography: 3 pages
Introduction Walking through the Venda Plaza shopping center in Thohoyandou, South Africa, R dai ae ta a ad a tm ,T aioe f Jws bo e . Gv g i a uznw vdo m n n si o e“ hts n o my e i rt r” i n h d h hs i m pzl ytn i e l kh ep i d“a a l k e . cm f m I al l gi e uz d ei r ud o ,e xln ,Im Ba Jw We a er s eao t e tg o ae c o r n m aoT e hv poe iwt gns N t nowing what to say and not having heard about this g. hy ae rvdt i ee. o k h ” before, I let his statement pass. My time in South Africa was devoted to working with a victim empowerment program, but I continued to wonder about the idea of Black Jews. The Black Jew or Lemba population creates a blip on a cultural map of sub-Saharan Africa. When researchers discovered and studied them over the last fifteen years, the Lemba also made a blip on the genetic map of sub-Saharan Africa. Genetic analysis of the Lemba has focused primarily on the Y chromosome, which is useful for studying variation among and distance between populations. The Lemba genetic markers support the oral tradition which says the Lemba came from the north. This paper reviews biological and cultural studies of the Lemba and the correlation between genes and oral tradition to propose a biocultural history for the Lemba people. Biology Genetic Variation across Populations Much of the study of genetic variation has focused on dissimilarity between groups. Genetic variation over time is used to postulate about the place and time of the origins of modern humans as well as subsequent movement and migration. Genetic variation is the greatest in Africa, and it is reasoned that the longer a group has been around, the more variation it will have in its gene pool. Additionally, the longer groups are apart, the greater their genetic distance (Cavalli-Sforza and Cavalli-Sforza, 1995). Maps of variation show
Bibliography: 1 and back in to Africa (Cavalli-Sforza and Cavalli-Sforza, 1995) 2 different time intervals, thus the changes can be compared between and among groups to examine relatedness and age by identifying variations (Bradman and Thomas 1998) 7 One possible method for distinguishing a Semitic origin, versus a general Middle Eastern origin, of the Lemba is to make comparisons with the Cohen modal haplotype, which is dominant in the Jewish priesthood (Thomas et al., 1998) 9 The Lemba live in Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and South Africa, but according to Buijs it is only in South Africa where one finds the belief of Jewish origins (1998) 11 not be identified as Judaism in the West, however they have adopted more Jewish traditions in recent years (Sand, 2002)