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Judit Bokser LiwerantUniversidad Nacional Autónoma de
México
Brandeis University, BostonOctober 23rd, 2011
Result of processes of
Relocation
Redefinition
Reshaping
Experiences and identities
New geographical and social territories
Changes (migration, relocation, return, dual residency, dispersal, renewal) impact domains of public life:
•Inclusion and exclusion within broader communal and societal contexts
•Shifting ideological commitments
•Construction, resilience, transformation, contesting and reconstitution of individual and collective Jewish life
• Building, imagining, reformulation and adjusting-redefinition of individual and collective identities
Collective life and identities
Different institutional arenas
Territorial
Communal
Ethnical
Religious
Cultural
Different political-ecological settings
Local
Regional
National
•Diverse nature of the different countries and cultures
Shared features and singularities of Latin American Jewish communities
•Particular and global condition of the Jewish people
Globalization processes strengthen commonalities and differencesMigrating + Receiving communities
Inner stratification
Complexity
Latin American Jewish Presence in US
Growing; Diversified; Singular
Still in need of comprehensive research
Latin American Jews in a Transnational World(Bokser Liwerant, DellaPergola, Senkman)
Multidimensional natureJewish identities in a context of identity revival, transformation, negotiation, or even fading away and loss
In Latin America- Abroad
Implications for social morphology as expressed in the changing character of social/communal formations
Past- present
Historical development of Latin America Jewish and changing conditions
Dialectic of de-territorialization and re-territorializationHistorical and current moments of a transnational world can be located
among Latin American Jews and their communities
Key concept to approach historical development of ethno-national Jewish Diasporas in LA + present condition
Bordered and bounded social and communal units as transnationallyconstituted spaces interacting with one another
Homeland and the elected new places of residence widen the scope of Jewish life and their reciprocal influence.
Changing character of social/communal formation.
Transnational actors become effective agents of micro- and macro-social change
Ethno-National Diaspora in Times of Transition
Center-Periphery Model Radial Contemporary Configuration
Research questions….
Multiples Modernities and Mauselum of Modernities
Transformation of historical tensions
Patterns of formation and transformation of the criteria of membership and its socio-ethnic dynamics inclusion/exclusion
Corporatist patterns and popular movements that generated recurrent waves of repression and democratization
Widening the public sphere and large-scale migration flows
Shrinking Jewish communities Revitalized Jewish life
Latin AmericaLatin American Jewish world
International Migrants
2005: 195 millions2010: 214 millions
Latin American Migrants
2005: 24 millions2010: 29.5 millions
Latin American Jews1970: 514.0002010: 390.000
Country 1967 1970 1984 1995
2009 % differ. 1970-2009Jewish
PopulationPopulation per 1000
Total Latin America 747.800 513.800 454.900 428.200 390.600 0.8 -24
Costa Rica 1.500 1.500 2.500 2.500 2.500 0,6 +67
Cuba 2.100 1.700 700 700 500 0,0 -71
Guatemala 1.500 1.900 1.000 1.000 900 0,1 -53
Mexico 30.000 35.000 35.000 40.800 39.500 0,4 +13
Panama 2.000 2.000 3.800 5.000 8.000 2,4 +300
Puerto Rico 2.000 1.200 2.000 1.500 1.500 0,4 +25
Total Central America 42.600 46.800 48.200 53.200 54.700 0,3 +17
Argentina 450.000 282.000 228.000 206.000 182.500 4,7 -35
Brazil 140.000 90.000 100.000 100.000 95.800 0,5 +6
Colombia 10.000 10.000 7.000 5.000 2.700 0,1 -73
Chile 35.000 30.000 17.000 15.000 20.600 1,2 -31
Ecuador 2.000 2.000 1.000 900 900 0,1 -55
Peru 4.000 5.300 5.000 2.900 2.000 0,1 -62
Uruguay 50.000 32.000 27.000 23.400 17.600 5,4 -45
Venezuela 8.500 12.000 20.000 20.000 12.200 0,5 +2
Total South America 705.200 467.000 406.700 375.000 335.900 0,9 -28
[Without Argentina, Brazil] [157.800] [141.800] [126.000] [122.200] [112.300]-21
Source for 1967: American Jewish Year Book; for 1970-2009: Schmelz (1981) quote in fn. 5; estimates by author; and American Jewish Year Book, various years.
JEWS OF LATIN AMERICAN ORIGIN AND THEIR FAMILIES, WORLD ESTIMATES
Areas of settlement of Latin American Jews
Jewish Population Core definition
Jewish Population Enlarged
definition* 1880 1948 2010 2010
Central America 54,500 62,000
South America 335,000 476,000
TOTAL IN LA 5,000 520,000 389,500 538,000
United States 100,000 133,000
Israel 115,000 150,000
Other country 12,500 20,000
TOTAL WORLDWIDE 617,000 841,000
Percent living OUT of LA 37% 36% *Including members of households who are not Jewish or are not of Latin American origin.
Number of Jews in the US
Percentage of Latino/Hispanic/Latin American Jews in the US
Number of Latino/Hispanic/Latin American Jews in the US
Sources
6.5 million 2.4 156,000 Sheskin & Dashefsky, 2005 & 2010
5.5 million Core definition Enlarged definition Core definition Enlarged
definitionDellaPergola, 2010 & 2011
1.8 2.4 100,000 133,000
Sources: Sheskin, Ira M. and Arnold Dashefsky. “The 2005 Las Vegas Jewish Community Study”. The Jewish Data Bank; Sheskin, Ira M. And Arnold Dashefsky. “Jewish Population in the US, 2010”. Number 1. The Jewish Data Bank.DellaPergola, Sergio. “World Jewish Population, 2010”. Number 2. The Jewish Data Bank; JPPI, 2011.
PHASE 1 PHASE 2
Cuban revolution in 1959
1970s: economic crises; political dictatorships in the Southern Cone
Neo-liberal economic policies and globalization (1980s and1990s)
Re-democratization: pull factor for Jewish exiles and return to their homelands
Economic crises and security problems: global international migration pattern
Choice of destination was grounded on push or pull factors reflecting structural transformations as well as individual/familiar/ communal options for better personal security, economic and life-chance needs
The perception of relevant places of destinations could not be totally free from evaluations involving a cultural dimension
Dependency of Jewish migration levels on the unfolding of specific localcircumstances
Material realities and cultural symbolic ideational factors
Cultural determinants in Jewish international migration
Israel- USA Historical alternative/supplementary moments
Jewish migrations are not unidirectional
•return migration •repeated and circular migration •bi-local or multi-local migrants
transnational networks and identities of
specific/singular region
Characteristics Respondent Spouse TotalN 29 38 67 Veterans in the US 100.0 100.0 100.0Mean years 28.6Mean year of arrival 1972-1973 Gender M 67.3 19.1 40.0F 32.7 80.9 60.0 Age Mean age 47.7 45.4 46.4 Region 100.0 100.0 100.0Northeast 37.4 24.0 29.8MidWest 10.1 0.0 4.4South 37.1 56.4 48.0West 15.4 19.6 17.8
Characteristics Respondent Spouse Total Education 100.0 100.0 100.0MA and above 42.4 30.6 35.9BA 19.4 32.7 26.8Some college 26.8 15.5 20.5High school or less 11.5 21.0 16.8 Employment 100.0 100.0 100.0Self-employed 4.1 37.7 23.1Employee 80.6 45.9 61.0Not working 15.3 16.4 15.9Source: National Jewish Population Survey 2001. Elaborated by Sergio DellaPergola and Uzi Rebhun
Trasnational networks and identities
1948-2007 (LA Israel):
94.700 (born in LA)
108.000 (plus 14% migrants from LA born in other places)
2007:60.000 residents(100.000 /plus 39.5000 born in Israel)
113.00068.000 first generation45.000 born in Israel
2001 (LA US):
67,000 (born in LA)
33,000 (migrants from LA born in other places + second generation)
*100,000
Binomial Diaspora-Transnationalism
New relevance
Diaspora making Diaspora un-making
Complex de- socialization and re-socialization
migrant integration and cultural distinctiveness
web of relations beyond Nation-State
Migration crises
Scenarios
De-diasporization with respect to belonging to an ethno-national Jewish Diaspora
Re-diasporization of migrant communities (old country/old Jewishness)
Integration through new narrative and visibility of collective identities
international migration
Reshaping of the social and cultural boundaries of Jewish migrants vis-à-vis the absorbing society
cultural and religious diversity
changes in the host-guest mutual perceptions of
identity boundariesAssimilation Process
routes and roots of collective life and perception- role of
migrants in the new places
Changing modes and strategies of community incorporation/integration; participation/affiliation
retain strong cultural traits related to the communities of origin
tend/want to be part of the new communal fabric
globalized Judaism Jewish communities in Latin America based on Nation-State primacy and
mono-cephalous culturesTension
Changing contents of identities, new definitions of attachment to Jewish context, understanding of Jewishness among children of families: intermarried, multiple ethnicity and multiple religion
Patterns of convergence Mutual exclusion
Resulting from earlier migration processes + persistent sub-ethnicities in Jewish domain
•Mechanisms for enrollment of adepts and ensuring institutional continuity in the sub-ethnic Jewish cultural context
Transnationalism of Latin American Jews
Living in MiamiLiving in California/San Diego (Mexicans)Living in the U.S. Northeast
How demographically and socioeconomically selective were the migrants vis-à-vis the profile of the total Jewish population in the country of origin? Who went and who remained, and why?
Which migration networks, local, international and transnational organizations (Jewish or non-Jewish) were part of this process?
What sort of relationships helped to link former, current, and potential migrants with the country of destination?
What degree of commitment developed toward the new country of residence? Through which channels?
Which links developed with the local Jewish community? Independent communities?
Global city31% population foreign born2.500.000 people living in Miami1.600.000 Latinos1% Hispanic: Jews (16.000)
Is this a case of re-diasporization of Jewish migrants and temporary residents, or a relocation or regrouping of Latin Americans to Florida?
Expressions of multi-localism: a high number of transients living in two homes between a proto-Diaspora in the U.S. and their national home-
country
Singularity of Cuban Jews in Florida. Migrants from Argentina, Colombia and Mexico. Venezuelan Jews: test case?
Economic, legal, social and educational advice and supportbetween solidarity and
tensionsJoint ventures
Diverse patterns of organization of/integration to Jewish communal life:
Common denominator: collective incorporation
From autarchy to coexistence: Hebraica-JCC
The communal character of social life:
Shaliaj JAFI;
Macabi Games.
2002-2004: arrival of Argentinian Jews (economic crisis)
San Diego
Jewish community has shown a migratory pattern of recreating communal life in new milieus and the resulting translocalism represents new dimensions of transnationalism: concept of secondary-Diaspora
widen the concept of commuting: redefining the boundaries between homeland and place of residence;
inter-generational differences and common traits
2003 Jewish population: 89.00019% born outside USA Lowest percentage of community affiliation; congregational membership600 Mexican Jewish families
Organizational and institutional densityLeadership in American
Association: Hebrew Academy, AIPAC
The emergence of a world cosmopolitan middle class or elite that shares tastes and values, by maintaining widely spread transnational connections
The inner sectorial differences that historically marked the Mexican Jewish community tend to blur: Ashkenazi, Sephardic, Mizrahi -> Mexican/Jewish identity
Sub- ethnicity and religious streams
Encounters with other Jewish groups
The place of Hispanic culture in the reconstruction of a new transnational identity of Latin American Jews in the U.S
Transformation of the concept hispanic/ latino
What makes someone Hispanic, Latino, Spanish, Latin American?
Legal and culturalExternal and internal
Convergences and divergences
Negotiation of referents
Jewish newcomers -> hold a peripheral identity vis-à-vis Jewish Anglosaxon world
“I oscillate in my identification with Mexican Jews as if they were part of my own world, on one hand and my gardener’s world, on the other”
Hispanic migratory world and Otherness
Jews as the central Other
Different locations- distinct Jewish configurations (countries of origin, socioeconomic status and ideational orientation)
Previous experiences, new challenges
Transnationalism Conceptual utility
Historical changes
Latin American
Jewish experience
Past
Present
The original attachment of Jewish life in the region to external centers has been redefined and reshaped through diverse models of interaction while new types have emerged
Boston, New York, Washington, Chicago
Immigration patterns tend to be more individually and professionally oriented than the more collective patterns in the Southeastern and
Southwestern states
The Jewish Latin American presence may serve as a bridge between Latin Americans and North
American society
In new residence (professional motives + skills rather than proximity to LA): Virtual networking seems to play an enhanced role in maintaining ties to the parent community
Growing Hispanic population and its impact on domestic identity and international relations present a challenge to the Jewish community
Point of view of the Latino immigrant and second generation communities
Point of view of the Jewish community
Jewish community can be helpful at promoting status of Latinos taking advantage of the successful integration of Jews in America, the high socioeconomic status they enjoy and the network of relations they have developed over time
Latinos can contribute to the goals and agenda of the organized Jewish Community to gain the political support and lobby of a large, growingly influential and relatively recent section of American society on issues of Jewish interest
Equality of civil rights and dignity, openness to equal opportunities, opposition to discrimination, education to tolerance, democracy and pluralism
American Jewry represents the paradigmatic example of a successful and influential relationship between Diaspora and Homeland
(Literature on transnational migration underestimates the originality/exceptionality of Jewish case)
“BEFORE” CHANGES
Ethno-national Diaspora Communal endeavors Sub-ethnicity as identity and
organizational axes Secularization and politicization:
plural transnational cultural baggage
Zionist idea and the State of Israel as central axes
Educational networks developed as a replica of the different ideological and political currents that were created overseas
Religious institution not brought over from Europe but ‘imported’from the United States
De-secularization and religious growing and diversified profile
Orthodox groups and new religious congregations
Educational system: dramatically change expressing religious and cultural developments
An increase in religiosity and observance constitute part of the meaningful current changes in Latin American Jewish life
Theoretical and Methodological challenges
Multiples complexities
Socio demographical When, why, who….National setting and belonging/beyond citizenship, social stratification, sub-ethnicity, etc.*The need for mapping…(those who leave, those who remain…)
Cultural and SymbolicOld identities, new symbolic ones, borders and boundaries*Axes for comparison; multiple identities – methodological input/surveys of migrants
Material and territorialMultiple intertwined times and spaces; networks*Complementary disciplinary approaches and techniques; quantitative and qualitative methods (surveys, pilot projects->systematic field-work, oral history, in-depth analyses)Policy planning implications