Memory, Oblivion, and Jewish Culture in Latin America

Published by University of Texas Press 2005

Memory, Oblivion, and Jewish Culture in Latin America

Edited by: Marjorie Agosín

https://doi.org/10.7560/706439

Overview
Contents

About this book

Latin America has been a refuge for Jews fleeing persecution from 1492, when Sepharad Jews were expelled from Spain, until well into the twentieth century, when European Jews sought sanctuary there from the horrors of the Nazi Holocaust. Vibrant Jewish communities have deep roots in countries such as Argentina, Mexico, Guatemala, and Chile—though members of these communities have at times experienced the pain of being "the other," ostracized by Christian society and even tortured by military governments. While commonalities of religion and culture link these communities across time and national boundaries, the Jewish experience in Latin America is irreducible to a single perspective. Only a multitude of voices can express it.

This anthology gathers fifteen essays by historians, creative writers, artists, literary scholars, anthropologists, and social scientists who collectively tell the story of Jewish life in Latin America. Some of the pieces are personal tales of exile and survival; some explore Jewish humor and its role in amalgamating histories of past and present; and others look at serious episodes of political persecution and military dictatorship. As a whole, these challenging essays ask what Jewish identity is in Latin America and how it changes throughout history. They leave us to ponder the tantalizing question: Does being Jewish in the Americas speak to a transitory history or a more permanent one?

Author / Editor information

Marjorie Agosín, Professor of Spanish at Wellesley College, is an award-winning poet, memoirist, creative writer, and public speaker.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Introduction Marjorie Agosín Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
Section I Sephardim in Our Memory
Remembering Sepharad Reyes Coll-Tellechea Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	3
The Sephardic Legacy Angelina Muñiz Huberman Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	15
Section II Journeys
Tuesday Is a Good Day David Brailovsky Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	33
My Panama Murray Baumgarten Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	47
A Journey through My Life and Latin American Jewish Studies Sandra Mcgee Deutsch Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	61
Section III The Paradox of Communities
Chile and the Nazis Graeme S. Mount Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	77
‘‘Are You Sure They’re Really Jewish?’’ a selective history of Mexico city’s Beth Israel community center Diana Anhalt Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	91
Dancing around the Political Divide between the ‘‘legal’’ and the ‘‘regal’’ in the Mexican Jewish community Adina Cimet Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	101
Section IV A Literature of Transformation
The Heterogeneous Jewish Wit of Margo Glantz Naomi Lindstrom Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	115
Preserving the Family Album in Letargo by Perla Suez Rhonda Dahl Buchanan Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	131
Section V Culture, History, and Representation
Lamentations for the AMIA: literary responses to communal trauma Stephen A. Sadow Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	149
Nationalism, Education, and Identity Argentine Jews and catholic religious instruction, 1943–1 955 Raanan Rein Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	163
From Gauchos judíos to Idishe mames posmodernas popular Jewish culture in Buenos Aires Darrell B. Lockhart Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	177
Gabriel Valansi: neoliberal nights in Buenos Aires David William Foster Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	207
While Waiting for the Ferry to Cuba afterthoughts about adio kerida Ruth Behar Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	221
La menora de la alegría para Josefina Agosín Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	235
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	239

Language: English
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 272

eBook

Published: August 17, 2009
ISBN: 9780292796867