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Jewish Word | The Jewfro Grows Up and Out

JL;DR SUMMARY The term "Jewfro" humorously refers to the curly, unruly hairstyle stereotypically associated with Jewish people, often linked to broader cultural and racial histories. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

StereotypesCultural IdentityRacismCivil RightsComedyHairSelf EmpowermentJewfroCurly HairBeauty Norms

Places mentioned

Sweden
"Jews didnt fare well in 1735, when Carolus Linnaeus, the Swede whose botanical taxonomy built the modern biological classification system, began sorting humans along racial lines."
Germany
"Linnaeus was followed in 1881 by German ethnographer Richard Andree, who wrote of less noble Jews, who, unlike the more graceful specimens of their race, had big mouths, thick noses, and often curly hair."
France
"Six years later the Frenchmen Abel Hovelacque, an anthropologist, and Georges Herv, a physician, characterized German Jews round head, curly hair, large nose, thick lips as lacking any delicacy."
New York, United States
"In 1971, a New York Times article on Harvard Universitys hairy basketball team characterized its captains unkempt hair as a first cousin to the Afro."
Brooklyn, New York, United States
"But for the Jewish junior from Brooklyn, the bushy dark hair that is piled high on his head has been called an Isro, combining Israel and Afro."

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Cairo Item ID 42914
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Retrieved 2025-01-29 05:30:53 UTC
Curated 2025-01-29 08:32:32 UTC