Migration in the Joseph Narrative: Integration, Separation, and Transnationalism

Abstract

Building on recent scholarship that reads the Joseph narrative (Genesis 37–50) as a Diaspora narrative, this essay seeks to unpack some of the cross-cultural relations between the migrant agents (Joseph and his brothers) and the host community (the Egyptians). The essay focuses on the cross-cultural matrices of integration, separation, and transnationality. These relationships between the migrant and the host communities is shaped by the openness of the host community and the ability of the migrants to negotiate power with the existing social and economic systems of their country of destination. Through a close reading of Genesis 41; 46:31–37:4, and 50:1–14, and by way of drawing insights from sociological studies of migration, I will show not only that the Joseph narrative advocates that life can be prosperous in the Diaspora, but also that the Joseph narrative suggests that integration into a foreign country is possible, and it can happen while forming a distinct identity, which in turn allows for the migrant community to live in a transnational mode, that is, it integrates into the host community, while maintaining ties with its home culture.

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