The Relationship between Jews and Christian. Toward a Redefinition of the ghettos

In this volume we look at a broad set of issues from the perspective of aphenomenon that began in the peninsula: the ghetto. From the perspective of the relations between the the segregated and those who imposed segregation, Jews and Christians – new research centered on the early modern period and on the period of reclusion and confinement(16th-19th centuries) represents a most interesting case of historiographical innovation. Overcoming the paradigm of insularity and unscalable walls – which the ghetto symbolizes – allows us to identify systems of exchanges, interactions, and reciprocal influences on shared spaces, whether physical or cultural. Heading toward a comprehensive exploration of the dynamics of segregation and the problems associated with its definition, thismonographic issue proposes an inquiry into a variety of ghetto experiencesaccording to a comparative perspective and to the diversity of legal, social,cultural, and institutional situations. Through the presentation of a series of case studies that span chronologically from the 16th to the 19th century and beyond, we propose to reconstruct the evolution of the ghetto as a multifaceted phenomenon.In particular, the intention of this work is to “come out of the ghetto” by analyzing the relationships between the inside an the outside and the mutual representations of the Christian and Jewish populations, while simultaneously “entering the ghetto” by revealing how Christian normativity conditioned Jewish practices and strategies, to the point of forcing them to re-enter the ghetto even after the emancipation.