Tamar El-Or (born in 1955) is an Israeli sociologist and author holding the Sarah Allen Shaine chair of

sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ...

and

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...

at the

Hebrew University The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weiz ...

.Faculty profile
Hebrew University, retrieved 2012-07-21.

Research

El-Or's Ph.D. dissertation was a study of

ultra-Orthodox Haredi Judaism ( he, ', ; also spelled ''Charedi'' in English; plural ''Haredim'' or ''Charedim'') consists of groups within Orthodox Judaism that are characterized by their strict adherence to ''halakha'' (Jewish law) and traditions, in oppos ...

women in Israel that was published as a book, ''Educated and Ignorant'', in both

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

. Therein, El-Or discusses the possibility of educating for ignorance, or teaching certain groups (in this case, girls and women) to expect and respect intellectual restrictions. This research in

gender and religion Sex differences in religion can be classified as either "internal" or "external". Internal religious issues are studied from the perspective of a given religion, and might include religious beliefs and practices about the roles and rights of men an ...

debated

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

questions of choice, empowerment, and resistance via the life of Orthodox women. El-Or's fieldwork and findings on the ultra-Orthodox community led to research on the modern (national) Orthodox community in Israel, and to the book ''Next Year, I'll Know More''. This book describes and analyzes a feminist revolution via knowledge among young women from the modern Orthodox community. A third project followed these two and was conducted among the

Sephardi Mizrahi Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), pt, Judeus sefar ...

community, thus covering all three major communities that comprise

Israeli Orthodoxy Israeli may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the State of Israel * Israelis, citizens or permanent residents of the State of Israel * Modern Hebrew, a language * ''Israeli'' (newspaper), published from 2006 to 2008 * Guni Israeli ...

. This research became another book, ''Reserved seating: Gender, ethnicity, and religion in Israel''. It examines questions of class and ethnicity among women from the Sephardi and Ashkenazi Orthodox communities, and those that revolve around orthodoxy. These

monograph A monograph is a specialist work of writing (in contrast to reference works) or exhibition on a single subject or an aspect of a subject, often by a single author or artist, and usually on a scholarly subject. In library cataloging, ''monograph ...

s form a trilogy on gender, religion, and the meanings of knowing. In 2009-2010, El-Or wrote a short essay on the pedagogy of

Tania learning Tania is usually a given name. It may refer to: Given name * Tânia Alves, Brazilian actress and singer * Tania Brishty, Bangladesh actress and model * Princess Tania de Bourbon Parme, French designer * Tania de Jong, Dutch-born Australian sopran ...

among women from the

Hasidic Hasidism, sometimes spelled Chassidism, and also known as Hasidic Judaism (Ashkenazi Hebrew: חסידות ''Ḥăsīdus'', ; originally, "piety"), is a Jewish religious group that arose as a spiritual revival movement in the territory of contem ...

sect of

Chabad Chabad, also known as Lubavitch, Habad and Chabad-Lubavitch (), is an Orthodox Jewish Hasidic dynasty. Chabad is one of the world's best-known Hasidic movements, particularly for its outreach activities. It is one of the largest Hasidic group ...

(Lubavitz), as well as a theoretical comparative work on veiling in Israel, France, Turkey, Belgium, and Morocco. El-Or has written numerous articles on issues related to her main research fields, as well as articles on other issues, such as Israeli motherhood, anthropological methodology, and sociological aspects of literature and the

visual arts The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, filmmaking, design, crafts and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual art, and textile arts al ...

, etc.

Selected publications

Books

* El-Or, Tamar. 1994. Educated and Ignorant: Ultraorthodox Jewish Women and their World . Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Pub. (Published in Hebrew, 1992, by Am Oved). * El-Or, Tamar. 2002. Next Year I Will Know More: Identity and Literacy Among Young Orthodox Women in Israel. Detroit: Wayne State University Press. (Published in Hebrew, 1998, by Am Oved).

Selected articles

* El-Or, Tamar.1991."Captured Babies: The Ultraorthodox Perception of Non Orthodox Jews". ''Megamot'' 34(1):104–121 (Hebrew). * El-Or, Tamar.1992. "Do You Really Know How They Make Love: The Limits of Intimacy with Ethnographic Informants". ''Qualitative Sociology'' 15(1):53–73. * El-Or, Tamar.1993. "You Can't See Iceland from Shiloh: The Rechelim Case". ''Alpaim'' 7:59–81. (Hebrew).

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Or, Tamar 1955 births Living people Israeli sociologists Tel Aviv University alumni Bar-Ilan University alumni Academic staff of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem