Fewer Karaims, But More Karaim Issues

Abstract

The fewer Karaims there are, the more complicated the study of Karaims becomes. The community is disappearing, and the adverse effects of endogamy are reaching their inevitable conclusion. Yet everything that concerns the lives, activities and long-term and short-term plans of the Karaim community seems to defy demographic figures. This is the starting point for an account of Karaims living in contemporary Poland. As in the past, contemporary “grand narratives” tend to marginalize such small groups as the Karaims, leading to their sense of alienation. This chapter attempts to describe some remarkably effective strategies for survival developed by the distant descendants of the Khazars, Polovtsy and Kipchaks. This tiny community has benefited from the various possibilities of maintaining their identity, which include media performances, shows, incidental and hybrid group ties, vociferous mobilizations, effective application of administrative regulations, the activities of their elites and leaders, and images of the group as seen by others. Karaimes have proved adept at presenting their identity with the aid of vehicles such as electronic media. It turns out that in constructing ethnic identity, the more people learn about Karaims, the more their numbers grow.