Identities in an Era of Globalization and Multiculturalism: Latin America in the Jewish World(8 Jewish Identities in a Changing World)

This volume addresses key conceptual issues and case studies dealing with contemporary Jewish identities amidst globalization processes, with special emphasis on Latin American socio-political, communal, and cultural milieu. The book brings together a variety of disciplinary and theoretical approaches that range from political science to sociology and from art and literature to demography in order to offer the reader a multidimensional and multifocal analysis of the diverse constitutional elements of the Jewish experience. Using as its point of departure the wide horizon of historical trajectories and current challenges, the articles analyze the transnational, regional and local processes that inform the different Jewish Diasporas and Israel. Simultaneously, its content provides a snapshot of the current state of research on collective identity building processes and a lively analysis of the challenges posed by cultural diversity and primordial and civic belongings in the framework of political transitions, as well as new and old forms of expressing through cultural creativity individual and collective identities.

Table of Contents:
CONTENTS Introduction SECTION I KLAL YISRAEL IN THE CONTEMPORARY ERA Between Center and Centrality: The Zionist Perception of Klal Yisrael Yosef Gorny Contemporary Threats to Klal Yisrael Eliezer Ben-Rafael Jewish Autonomy and Dependency: Latin America in Global Perspective Sergio DellaPergola Latin American Jewish Identities: Past and Present Challenges. The Mexican Case in a Comparative Perspective Judit Bokser Liwerant SECTION II THE JEWS IN LATIN AMERICA Waning Essentialism: Latin American Jewish Studies in Israel 109 Raanan Rein Klal Yisrael at the Frontiers: The Transnational Jewish Experience in Argentina Leonardo Senkman Brazilian Non-Anti-Semite Sociability and Jewish Identity Bernardo Sorj Jews, Blacks, and the Ambiguities of Multiculturalism in Brazil Monica Grin Jewish Communal Life in Argentina and Brazil at the End of The 20th Century and the Beginning of the 21st: A Sociological Perspective Yossi Goldstein Revolution, Ethnicity, and Religions in Cuba: Similarities, Differences, and Dichotomies in the Case of the Jews Maritza Corrales Capestany SECTION III LATIN AMERICAN JEWISH CULTURE Crypto-Judaism in Mexico: Past and Present Alicia Gojman de Backal The Literary Construction of Jewish Identity in Chile: A Cartography of Recent Memories Gilda Waldman In the Name of the Father: Identity and Family Memory in Andres Rivera and Mauricio Rosencof Florinda F. Goldberg A Mosaic of Fragmented Identities: The Sephardim in Latin America Margalit Bejarano The Sephardic Diaspora Revisited: Dr. Angel Pulido Fernandez (1852-1932) and His Campaign Alisa Meyuhas Ginio Latin American Israelis: The Collective Identity of an Invisible Community Luis Roniger and Deby Babis SECTION IV JEWS, SOCIETY, AND STATEHOOD: COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVES The Cultural Pluralism Perspective of North American Jewry During the Holocaust Ofer Shiff North American Jews in the New Millennium Jonathan D. Sarna Jewish Identity and Anti-Semitism Michel Wieviorka Jews, Nationality, and Judaism: The Case of Ha-rishon le-Zion, Rabbi Meir Ben Zion Hai Uziel Shalom Ratzabi Different Concepts of a Jewish Democratic State Benyamin Neuberger

About the Author :
Judit Bokser Liwerant, PhD in Political and Social Sciences, is Head of the Graduate School in Political and Social Sciences at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. She is a member of the Mexican Academy of Sciences and has published extensively on Latin American Jewry and Zionsim, multiculturalism, and collective identities. Eliezer Ben-Rafael, PhD in Sociology, is Weinberg Professor of Sociology at Tel-Aviv University. He is the President of the International Institute of Sociology and co-director of the Klal Yisrael project at Tel-Aviv University. He has published extensively on collective identities, sociology of religion, and Contemporary Jewry. Yosef Gorny, PhD in Jewish History, is the Segal Professor of the History of European Jewry at the department of Jewish History at Tel-Aviv University. He is Head of the Institute for the Study of Jewish Press and Communications at Tel-Aviv University. He has published extensively on social and political movements in modern Jewish history as well as on Jewish political ideologies. Ranaan Rein, PhD in History, is Professor of History and Director of the S. Daniel Abraham Center for International and Regional Studies at Tel-Aviv University. His numerous books have been published in Hebrew, English, and Spanish and focus on the political and social history of South America and Spain.