Early Modern Polemical Anti-Ethnographies of Jews : An Unpublished Book on Jewish Mores by the Czech Catholic Priest Karel Jugl

Abstract

The study is the first comprehensive analysis of an unique manuscript, authored in 1740's by Czech Catholic priest Karel Jugl. The manuscript deals on 1400 pages on the Jewish customs and mores.

The article contextualizes this source among the so-called early modern ethnographies of Jews and attempts at a re-evaluation of the whole genre by indicating its mechanisms. It suggests abandoning the term "ethnography" for "anti-ethnography".

Keywords

• Jewish history
• Czech Jews
• Bohemian Lands
• Early modern
• historical ethnography
• antisemitism
• antijudaism
• religious polemics