The Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women

Features thousands of biographic and thematic essays on Jewish women around the world. Learn more

Riv-Ellen Prell

Riv-Ellen Prell, an anthropologist, is a scholar of American Jewish cultures who has conducted ethnographic and historical research about gender and social mobility, youth cultures, and post war religious and political life.

Articles by this author

Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett smiling, wearing a black, high collar top and glasses

Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett

Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett is an American folklorist who is a scholar of Jewish cultures of Eastern Europe, North America, and Israel, museums, heritage, and tourism, as well as a curator of exhibits and documentarian. She is Chief Curator of the core exhibit of the POLIN Museum of Jewish history in Warsaw.

Jewish Gender Stereotypes in the United States

Stereotypes of Jews have existed from their arrival in the New World to the present. Jews were portrayed as greedy, unscrupulous, and unrefined. However, Jews also created stereotypes about one another based on class, gender, and religion. Specifically, the Ghetto Girl, Jewish Mother, JAP, and others reflected tensions between genders about the place of Jews in the economy and culture.

Barbara Myerhoff at Conference on Youth, Press Conference, 1969

Barbara Myerhoff

An award-winning anthropologist and feminist scholar, Barbara Myerhoff emphasized the importance of storytelling and studying one’s own community. Myerhoff’s work pioneered the study of elderly Jews and highlighted the role of women in religion, which had been previously neglected by the scholarly world.

How to cite this page

Jewish Women's Archive. "Riv-Ellen Prell." (Viewed on June 10, 2023) <https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/author/prell-riv-ellen>.

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