# Yiddish Ethnography and An-ski

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-anthropology-901932/yiddish-ethnography-and-an-ski
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-anthropology-901932/yiddish-ethnography-and-an-ski.md
Podcast: [New Books in Anthropology](https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-anthropology-901932)
Published: 2026-05-29T08:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://pdst.fm/e/traffic.megaphone.fm/NBNK2891833426.mp3
Audio file: https://pdst.fm/e/traffic.megaphone.fm/NBNK2891833426.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/new-books-in-anthropology-901932/episodes/yiddish-ethnography-and-an-ski

## Resource

Sh. An-ski (Shloyme-Zanvl Rappoport, 1863-1920) was a writer in Russian and Yiddish, a revolutionary, a wartime relief worker, and an ethnographer who studied the Jews of the Russian Empire. During his 1911-1914 expeditions to shtetls in Ukraine—he would report—he and his co-workers took 1000 photographs, recorded 1000 Yiddish songs and 1500 stories, and purchased 400 objects for a Jewish museum. The expedition also inspired An-ski to write his signature play, The Dybbuk. Although East European Jews used ethnographic tools to study themselves both before and after An-ski’s expeditions, he retains an outsize status in the field of Yiddish ethnography, strongly tied to the success of his play. This talk explores the connections between An-ski’s ethnographic work, his play, and the Russian politics of his era. This lecture originally took place on July 8, 2021. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/anthropology

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## Transcript

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