«The Lost Descendants of “God’s People” in West Africa» (to the 115th anniversary of Yu. Shumovskyi’s birth)

Abstract

to form new comprehension of his contribution to the specified issues. The paper aims to publicize and characterize Yu. Shumovskyi’s hypothesis that the Pel tribe in Ghana are the descendants of the Jewish people, to show its scientific value and to attach importance to the study of the Jewish question and the African continent. Achieving the set goals involves fulfilling the fol - lowing tasks: to analyze the foreign and Ukrainian historiography of Yu. Shu-movskyi’s scientific heritage, to outline his hypothesis on the origin of the Pel tribe, to consider determinants of its construction and to investigate his contribution to the study of ethnogenesis of the Jewish people and the study of West Africa. To understand the ethnogenesis of the Jewish people, the scholar had to use comparative and hermeneutic methods. As the results of the scientific research, it is established that Yu. Shumovskyi’s hypothesis as to the ethnogenesis of the Jewish people in Africa is based on his study of the Pel tribe: numerous archaeological and ethnographic artifacts, oral history of its belonging to the Jewish culture as evidence of the past presence of the Jewish population in West Africa, characteristics of traditional household culture and anthropological features of the tribe members. It is proved that Yu. Shumovskyi’s research has gained significant resonance and has become an impetus for new studies on the history of Africa. Besides, analysis of primary foreign historiography highlighted recognition of the Ukrainian re-searcher of Africa as the pioneer of the genesis of the Pel tribe – the descendants of the Jewish people.