Jewish women in Glasgow c1880-1950: gender ethnicity and the immigrant experience

This study makes a contribution to the gender history of modern Scotland and addresses issues of ethnic diversity in the Scottish past. By examining the experiences of women in immigrant Jewish families and including gender analysis, it also forms an addition to British/Jewish history. The development of a Jewish community is examined in chronological format beginning with the arrival of immigrants from Eastern Europe and ending with aspects of Jewish acculturation. The thesis has three main aims: firstly it seeks to place women at the centre of the immigrant narrative; secondly it aims to explore the materiality of women’s lives as lived in the working class Jewish community of the Gorbals, and thirdly, it endeavours to analyse aspects of Jewish suburban life in Glasgow that were shaped and expressed through changes in gender relations. There is also a thematic element to the analysis that includes the following topics: Jewish settlement in Glasgow; ways of making a living; domesticity; upward mobility; women’s communal involvement, and lastly, the way that memories of Jewish life in Glasgow have been represented in different texts. The thesis makes use of multiple types of source material, including personal testimony, to argue that the identity of Glaswegian Jewry was shaped by the operation of gender as well as ethnicity and class; and in combination, these defined the social organisation of Glasgow Jewry. This approach demonstrates the intersection of culture with more customary social and economic aspects of the migration process and reveals the central roles played by women immigrants.

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

PhD

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of Glasgow

Year dc:date.issued

2005

Author dc:creator

• Fleming, Linda

• HT Communities. Classes. Races
• HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform
• HQ The family. Marriage. Woman

Language dc:language

en