Negotiating Identity in a Shrinking Community: The Cochin Jews of Kerala
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54741/SSJAR/6.3.2026.377Keywords:
cochin jews, identity negotiation, demographic decline, cultural continuity, heritage preservationAbstract
This paper presents findings from ongoing PhD research on Jews in India, focusing on the Cochin Jews of Kerala. As one of India's oldest Jewish communities, the Cochin Jews have experienced dramatic demographic decline, with fewer than 20 individuals remaining in Kochi today. Despite decades of migration to Israel, population aging, and family dispersal, the remaining members and their descendants abroad continue to maintain faith, memory, and heritage, demonstrating how communal identity can persist even under conditions of extreme demographic vulnerability. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in Kochi, including interviews with elderly residents and younger diaspora members, the study examines how Jewish identity is negotiated alongside Indian and Keralite identities, the persistence of historical divisions between Paradesi and Malabari Jews, and the commodification of Jewish heritage within Kerala's tourism industry. It contributes to anthropological understandings of identity formation, cultural preservation, and the methodological challenges of researching disappearing communities.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Shruti Hiremath, Dr. Mitoo Das
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Research Articles in 'Social Science Journal for Advanced Research' are Open Access articles published under the Creative Commons CC BY License Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. This license allows you to share – copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format. Adapt – remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.
