The Jews (Falasha) of northwestern Ethiopia are a unique example of a Jewish group living within an ancient, non-Western, predominantly Christian society. Hagar Salamon presents the first in-depth study of this group, called the "Hyena people" by their non-Jewish neighbors. Based on more than 100 interviews with Ethiopian immigrants now living in Israel, Salamon's book explores the Ethiopia within as seen through the lens of individual memories and expressed through ongoing dialogues. It is an ethnography of the fantasies and fears that divide groups and, in particular, Jews and non-Jews.

Recurring patterns can be seen in Salamon's interviews, which thematically touch on religious disputations, purity and impurity, the concept of blood, slavery and conversion, supernatural powers, and the metaphors of clay vessels, water, and fire.

The Hyena People helps unravel the complex nature of religious coexistence in Ethiopia and also provides important new tools for analyzing and evaluating inter-religious, interethnic, and especially Jewish-Christian relations in a variety of cultural and historical contexts.

Hagar Salamon is a Lecturer in the Department of Jewish and Comparative Folklore at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

“[Salamon] claims to be an anthropologist, writing what she describes to as ‘dialogistic’ ethnography. . . . a pretentious and simplistic account of an extremely interesting community who, especially in their relocation in Israel, deserve better treatment.”—I.M. Lewis, Royal Anthropological Inst Journal (Man)

"A fascinating book on an intricate subject: the relations on different levels (social, economic, emotional, psychological and symbolic) between the Beta Israel and their Christian Ethiopian neighbors, in whose midst they lived as a generally tolerated, but also feared and distrusted, minority. . . . Not only does Ms. Salamon convincingly portray a community deeply Jewish in its posture toward the outside world, she also paints a picture of fragile Jewish-Christian co-existence that, undermined by circumstances, could easily have led to the eruption of serious anti-Jewish violence and persecution. Psychologically and emotionally, the Beta Israel, whatever their origin, were Jews in every respect. They left for Israel not a moment too soon."—Jewish Forward