Judit Bokser Liwerant
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de
México
Brandeis University, Boston
October 23rd, 2011
Relocation
Result of processes of
Redefinition
Experiences
and identities
New geographical
and social territories
Reshaping
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
Territorial
Communal
Collective life and
identities
Different institutional
arenas
Religious
Cultural
Ethnical
Local
Different politicalecological settings
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 differences
Migrating + Receiving communities
Inner
stratification
Latin American Jewish Presence in US
Growing; Diversified; Singular
Complexity
Still in need of comprehensive research
Latin American Jews in a Transnational World
(Bokser Liwerant, DellaPergola, Senkman)
Multidimensional nature


Jewish identities in a context of identity
revival, transformation, negotiation, or
even fading away and loss
Dialectic of de-territorialization and re-territorialization
Historical and current moments of a transnational world can be located
among Latin American Jews and their communities
In Latin America- Abroad
 Past- present
Implications for social
morphology as expressed
in the changing character
of social/communal
formations

Historical development of Latin
America Jewish and changing
conditions
Key concept to approach historical development of ethno-national
Jewish Diasporas in LA + present condition
Bordered and bounded social and communal units as transnationally
constituted 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 macrosocial change
Ethno-National Diaspora in Times of Transition
Center-Periphery Model
Research questions….
Radial Contemporary
Configuration
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 America
Latin American Jewish world
International Migrants
2005: 195 millions
2010: 214 millions
Latin American Migrants
2005: 24 millions
2010: 29.5 millions
Latin American Jews
1970: 514.000
2010: 390.000
2009
Country
Total Latin America
1967
1970
1984
Jewish
Population
1995
Populati
on per
1000
% differ.
1970-2009
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
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
50.000
32.000
27.000
23.400
17.600
5,4
-45
8.500
12.000
20.000
20.000
12.200
0,5
+2
705.200
467.000
406.700
375.000
335.900
0,9
-28
[157.800]
[141.800]
[126.000]
[122.200]
[112.300]
Total Central America
Uruguay
Venezuela
Total South America
[Without Argentina, Brazil]
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.
-21
JEWS OF LATIN AMERICAN ORIGIN AND THEIR
FAMILIES, WORLD ESTIMATES
Areas of settlement of
Latin American Jews
Jewish Population
Core definition
1880
1948
Central America
2010
Jewish
Population
Enlarged
definition*
2010
54,500
62,000
335,000
476,000
389,500
538,000
United States
100,000
133,000
Israel
115,000
150,000
12,500
20,000
617,000
841,000
37%
36%
South America
TOTAL IN LA
5,000
Other country
TOTAL WORLDWIDE
Percent living OUT of LA
520,000
*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
2.4
156,000
6.5 million
5.5 million
Core definition
Enlarged
definition
Core definition
Enlarged
definition
1.8
2.4
100,000
133,000
Sources
Sheskin & Dashefsky,
2005 & 2010
DellaPergola, 2010 &
2011
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
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

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
Dependency of Jewish migration levels on the unfolding of specific local
circumstances
Material realities and cultural symbolic ideational factors
Cultural determinants in Jewish international migration
The perception of relevant places of destinations could not be totally free from
evaluations involving a cultural dimension
Israel- USA
Jewish
migrations
are not
unidirectional
Historical alternative/supplementary moments
•return migration
•repeated and circular migration
•bi-local or multi-local migrants
transnational networks
and identities of
specific/singular region
Characteristics
N
Veterans in the US
Mean years
Mean year of arrival
Respondent Spouse
29
38
Total
67
100.0
100.0
100.0
28.6
1972-1973
Gender
M
F
67.3
32.7
19.1
80.9
40.0
60.0
Age
Mean age
47.7
45.4
46.4
Region
Northeast
MidWest
South
West
100.0
37.4
10.1
37.1
15.4
100.0
24.0
0.0
56.4
19.6
100.0
29.8
4.4
48.0
17.8
Trasnational networks
and identities
Characteristics
Respondent
Spouse
Total
Education
MA and above
BA
Some college
High school or less
100.0
42.4
19.4
26.8
11.5
100.0
30.6
32.7
15.5
21.0
100.0
35.9
26.8
20.5
16.8
Employment
Self-employed
Employee
Not working
100.0
4.1
80.6
15.3
100.0
37.7
45.9
16.4
100.0
23.1
61.0
15.9
Source: National Jewish Population Survey 2001. Elaborated by Sergio DellaPergola
and Uzi Rebhun
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)
113.000
68.000 first generation
45.000 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 DiasporaTransnationalism
New relevance
Migration crises
Diaspora making
Complex de- socialization
and re-socialization
Scenarios
migrant integration and cultural
distinctiveness
web of relations beyond NationState
Diaspora un-making
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
changes in the host-guest
mutual perceptions of
identity boundaries
Assimilation Process
Reshaping of the social and cultural boundaries of Jewish migrants vis-àvis the absorbing society
cultural and religious
diversity
Changing modes and strategies of community
incorporation/integration; participation/affiliation
routes and roots of
collective life and
perception- role of
migrants in the new
places
retain strong cultural traits related to the
communities of origin
tend/want to be part of the new
communal fabric
globalized Judaism
Tension
Jewish communities in Latin America
based on Nation-State primacy and
mono-cephalous cultures
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
Living in Miami
Living in California/San
Transnationalism of Latin
Diego (Mexicans)
American Jews
Living in the U.S. Northeast
How demographically and socioeconomically selective were the migrants visà-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 city
31% population foreign born
2.500.000 people living in
Miami
1.600.000 Latinos
1% 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 homecountry
Singularity of Cuban Jews in Florida. Migrants from Argentina, Colombia and
Mexico. Venezuelan Jews: test case?
Economic, legal, social and educational advice and support
2002-2004: arrival of Argentinian Jews
(economic crisis)
between solidarity and
tensions
Joint 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.
San Diego
2003 Jewish population: 89.000
19% born outside USA
Lowest percentage of community affiliation; congregational
membership
600 Mexican Jewish families
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
Organizational and institutional density
Leadership 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 cultural
External 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
Previous experiences, new challenges
Different locations- distinct Jewish configurations (countries of origin,
socioeconomic status and ideational orientation)
Transnationalism
Conceptual
utility
Historical changes
Past
Present
Latin
American
Jewish
experience
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
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
The Jewish Latin American presence may serve
as a bridge between Latin Americans and North
American society
Point of view of the Latino
immigrant and second
generation communities

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
Point of view of the Jewish
community

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”







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
CHANGES




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 Symbolic
Old identities, new symbolic ones, borders and boundaries
*Axes for comparison; multiple identities – methodological input/surveys of migrants
Material and territorial
Multiple 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