Diásporas y transnacionalismo: nuevas indagaciones sobre los judíos latinoamericanos hoy

This article aims to reflect upon the explanatory power and scope of a theoretical framework for the study of the tripod “Trans-nationalism-Diaspora-Latin American Contemporary Jewry”. While recognizing the contribution of the ethnic paradigm to the analysis of the dynamics of contemporary diasporas, it underscores its shortcomings as well as those of the traditional methodological perspectives of Migratory Studies which tend to stay away from inter-disciplinary or comparative approaches and, thus, do not question the heterogeneity of units and referents of analysis. It offers a critical approach to the place of the Jewish experience in Diaspora Studies and points to the insufficient attention by Transnational Studies to the issue of boundary- maintenance within the highly dense associative life of the Jewish Diaspora. It also underlines the methodological limitations of those approaches of Contemporary Jewry that equal the singularity of North American Jewish diasporas to exceptionalism. The article further underlines the contribution of the Jewish Diaspora tradition to the understanding of contemporary processes of diasporization, de-diasporization and re- diasporization experienced by migrant communities in and outside Latin America. In order to illustrate the transformation of ethno-national diaspora communities into transnational diasporas in times of globalization, it accounts for the historic formation of kehilot (organized communities) as part of processes of rediasporization of the Ashkenazi Jewish communities of Buenos Aires and Mexico City. The second part of the article presents a critical review of recent diaspora approaches to the study of Latin American Jewry from historical, sociological, literary and cultural studies’ perspectives. Finally it examines several aspects and studies on ethno-religious, pan-ethnic and national diasporas of other Latin American communities such as Syrian and Lebanese offspring, and native born generations of Muslims.