How did the medical and scientific discourse about “regeneration” transform Jews in colonial Tunis? How did such a population adapt to, and even reframe, the French and Jewish elites’ attempts to regenerate, to “civilize” this North African community, and even to save their bodies? Parks’ book looks at three specific examples of colonial transformations and Jewish adaptations: the separation of races, religions, and classes and, more precisely, the reconfiguration of Jewish neighborhoods (or hara) in the main city of Tunis through a health and hygienist policy (Chapters 2 and 3); the divide among young Jews who supported Zionism and those close to the French and the assimilationist Alliance Israëlite Universelle (Chapter 4); and finally the control of Jewish women’s health (Chapter 5).
By framing such questions, Parks’ book rests on Foucault’s assumption that medical and scientific paradigms (biological determinism and social positivism) shaped state policies, including the policies implemented...