Judit Bokser Liwerant

Cárdenas Y Los Judíos: Entre El Exilio Y La Inmigración

SumarioEl presente articulo analiza la actitud de Mexico hacia los refugiados judios del nazismo, tal como se manifesto frente a la Conferencia sobre Refugiados Politicos llevada a cabo en julio de 1938 en Evian, Francia. Dicha actitud es estudiada a la luz de la interaccion entre diferentes dimensiones politicas del regimen cardenista. En primer lugar, la correspondiente a la politica migratoria posrevolucionaria, misma que al recuperar y exacerbar ambivalencias y ambiguedades previas, acabaria por perfilarse como selectiva y restrictiva. En segundo lugar, la que concierne a las relaciones bilaterales con los Estados Unidos, a la luz de las reivindicaciones nacionalistas del regimen y del conflicto derivado de la expropiacion petrolera. Por ultimo, se examina la actitud de Mexico hacia los judios en la interpretacion de su condicion migratoria.

Past and Present of Latin American Jewry: A Conceptual Pathway

The article aims to analyze the conceptual pathway that the author followed along her research trajectory focused on past and present trends in contemporary Jewish life, as specifically expressed in Latin America. Along a systematic reflection on axioms, theories and findings, diverse conceptual elaborations are presented, as they entail a sustained encounter with previous scientific formulations and changing times and contexts. Thus the author reflects on theory and biography as they nourished her research questions, while simultaneously committed to the stricter canon of scientific conscientiousness. Political science, sociology and contemporary Jewish studies converge in the development of research axes that found their point of departure in the prefix “multiple,” covering the author’s multidisciplinary journey through Latin American multiple modernities; multiple collective identities; and multiple social and communal structures and praxis. Diverse thematic clues are displayed to account for the striking fact that over the course of two generations Latin American Jews have transformed from mostly immigrants and immigrant communities, to rooted communities of locally-born citizens and, simultaneously, of expatriates and emigrants. The richness of Jewish life in the region, its presence and relevance in the Jewish world, as well as in national and communal spheres, and simultaneously, its relocation in new geographies are part of their current reality marked by disjunctures and paradoxes. The research presented crosses disciplinary confines in order to reach a wider epistemic spectrum and become better equipped to deal with the complexity that characterizes Jewish life today, as well as to traverse the national borders where Jewish diasporas dwell, in an effort to understand the globality of the Jewish condition and grasp its current dynamics.

Correction to: Past and Present of Latin American Jewry: A Conceptual Pathway

In the original publication of this article, the year 1994 has been mistakenly mentioned as 1995 in page 7 under the section When Biography and Scientific Research Meet in line 13.

7 Antisemitism in Mexico and Latin America: Recurrences and Changes

In Antisemitism in North America, leading scholars offer a wide variety of perspectives on why the Jews in North America have sometimes faced considerable bigotry but have, in general, found a home far more hospitable than the ones they left behind in Europe.

Conceptual and Methodological Clues for Approaching the Connections between Mexico and the Holocaust: Separate or Interconnected Histories?

Connections between the Holocaust and Latin America have yet to be fully elucidated. Next to the US, Latin America collectively hosted the largest number of European refugees during the 1930s and 1940s. During the Second World War, it held a non-marginal place in a highly interconnected global scenario and hence it is essential to incorporate a transnational perspective to examine the multiple contacts, links, and exchanges created by social and political actors across the borders of nation-states and beyond the geographies of the Holocaust on the European continent. By tracing how individual and collective agents interacted at the levels of state, society, and community, it is possible to shed light on a complex history of interconnected and separate processes and decisions. Although Mexico was one of the Latin American countries that admitted a low number of refugees (ca. 2,000), its role as a host country constitutes a rich opportunity for exploring key issues of rescue, survival, and integration and the interconnections among governmental and non-governmental actors remained frequent and intense during the war and its aftermath. Methodologically, it offers some clues for bringing together macro- and micro-histories as well as historical analysis and oral history.