Exploring the lived experiences of Middle-Eastern and North African (Mena) Jews through narrative inquiry using a digital storytelling approach

Cultural erasure has led to the virtual erasure of many communities from learning spaces. Discrimination, ignorance, and the politicization of knowledge production are all factors that lead to marginalization that sees certain communities being excluded from academia. One such community are the Jewish communities from Middle-Eastern and North African (MENA) lands. This dissertation directly confronts the erasure of MENA Jewish communities and the knowledge they hold by providing a platform for members of these communities to share their experiences. Storytelling is one way to combat cultural and historical erasure (Iseke, 2013). Not only does storytelling provide a way to resist marginalization, it also provides a method to disseminate accounts of historical significance. The forced exile of Jewish communities who had been present in the Middle-East and North Africa for millennia transformed traditions and practices that pre-dated the colonial forces that pushed them out. Unfortunately, we are currently witnessing similar events with the expulsion of the last Jews of Yemen