Nahum Slouschz’s Travels in North Africa and Colonialist Discourse

Abstract

This article examines the colonialist discourse internalized in Nahum Slouschz’ portrait of early 20^th century North African Jews in his book Travels In North Africa. While Slouschz’s cognition of the North African Jews drew much parallel with those of the European authorities in the region, Slouschz — as a European Jew — retained a unique perspective in regard to the Jewish communities in North Africa. Despite his condescending outlook on his co-religionists, Slouschz viewed North African Jews as the founders of civilization in the region, thereby placing them as the rightful heirs of their lands whose material and cultural “backwardness” was to be modernized through proper guidance of the Europeans.