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Oy, My Buenos Aires: Jewish Immigrants and the Creation of Argentine National Identity PDF

173 Pages·2013·11.053 MB·English
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Jewish Studies | Latin America | History N Between 1905 and 1930, more than one o “A dynamic and creative rethinking of Ashkenazi Jewish immigrants in the Oy, My Buenos Aires u hundred thousand Jews left Central and Eastern shaping of Argentine identities that demonstrates expertly, at the same time, the w Europe to settle permanently in Argentina. processes that made immigrant communities ‘Argentine.’” e n This book explores how these Yiddish-speaking —David M. K. Sheinin, Trent University, author of Consent of the Damned: Ashkenazi immigrants helped to create a Ordinary Argentinians in the Dirty War new urban strain of the Argentine national “By focusing on the lives of ordinary Jews in Buenos Aires in the early twentieth Jewish Immigrants and the creation identity. Like other immigrants, Jews embraced century, Mollie Lewis Nouwen’s pioneering work sheds new light on strategies of of Argentine National Identity Buenos Aires and Argentina while keeping social integration and the constant negotiation of individual and collective iden- ethnic identities—they spoke and produced tities. Oy, My Buenos Aires is a must read for anyone interested in the intersection of identity, ethnicity, nationalism, and immigration in Latin America.” new literary works in their native Yiddish and —Ranaan Rein, Elias Sourasky Professor of Latin American and Spanish continued Jewish cultural traditions brought History, Tel Aviv University O from Europe, from food to holidays. The author y , examines Argentine Jewish literature, songs, and “Nouwen assembles an impressive array of sources in Spanish and Yiddish, M newspapers, including advertisements, to focus ranging from police records and censuses to cartoons, memoirs, songs, and plays, y to explore the Jewish immigrant experience in a city that became one of their on the intersection and shifting boundaries of B major destinations. The result is a splendid sociocultural history that illuminates u identity, ethnicity, nationalism, and integration. e the role of social class, gender, generation, and material culture in the forging n In addition to the interplay of national of an Argentine Jewish identity through the interaction and mixing of ethnic, o s and ethnic identities, Nouwen illuminates porteño, and national elements.” A the importance of gender roles, generation, —Jose C. Moya, Barnard College, author of Cousins and Strangers: Spanish i r and class, as well as relationships between Immigrants in Buenos Aires, 1850–1930 e s Jews and non-Jews. She focuses on the daily “As Mollie Lewis Nouwen ably describes, through their daily encounters lives of ordinary Jews in Buenos Aires. Most with other city dwellers, promotion of the cinema, leftist politics, enrichment were working class, though some did rise to of language and literature, creation of vibrant neighborhoods and café life, and become middle-class professionals. Some Jews even criminal interactions, Jews helped shape the emerging urban identity in belonged to organizations that served the Jewish Argentina. Using sources as diverse as Yiddish writings, dance programs, police records, banquet menus, and plays, she evokes the lively melange of cultures and community, while others were more informally experiences in early twentieth-century Buenos Aires.” linked to their ethnic group through their family Mollie Lewis Nouwen is —Sandra McGee Deutsch, University of Texas at El Paso, author of Crossing and friends. Jews were involved in leftist politics assistant professor of history at Borders, Claiming a Nation: A History of Argentine Jewish Women, 1880–1955 from anarchism to unionism, and they also the University of South Alabama. started Zionist organizations. By exploring the diversity of Jewish experiences in Buenos Aires, Nouwen shows how individuals articulated their Jacket design by Karen Mazur multiple identities, as well as how those identities ISBN 978-0-8263-5350-4 Mollie Lewis Nouwen formed and overlapped. University of New Mexico Press ËxHSKIMGy353504zv*:+:!:+:! unmpress.com # 800-249-7737 Oy, My Buenos Aires ~ Oy, My Buenos Aires Jewish Immigrants and the Creation of Argentine National Identity ~ Mollie Lewis Nouwen University of New Mexico Press \ Albuquerque © 2013 by the University of New Mexico Press All rights reserved. Published 2013 Printed in the United States of America 18 17 16 15 14 13 1 2 3 4 5 6 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Nouwen, Mollie Lewis.   Oy, My Buenos Aires : Jewish immigrants and the creation of Argentine national identity / Mollie Lewis Nouwen.        p. cm   Includes bibliographical references and index.     isbn 978-0-8263-5350-4 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-8263-5351-1 (electronic) 1.  Jews—Argentina—History—20th century. 2.  Jews—Argentina— Buenos Aires—History—20th century. 3.  Jews—Argentina—Social life and customs. 4.  Jews—Argentina—Identity. 5.  Argentina—Ethnic relations.   I. Title.   F3021.J5N68 2013   982’.004924—dc23   2013008670 For my parents ~ Contents ~ Illustrations | ix Acknowledgments | xi A Note on Translation and Transliteration | xiv Introduction | 1 Chapter One Argentina: A Land of Immigrants | 14 Chapter Two From Colony to City: Jewish Immigrants, 1889–1930 | 24 Chapter Three “And from a gringo I was transformed into a criollo”: Deploying Markers of National Identity | 52 Chapter Four Building the City, Forging the Nation: Ethnic and National Spaces | 64 vii viii contents Chapter Five From Stolen Textiles to Off-Track Betting: Urban Crime and Disorder | 75 Chapter Six Eating, Drinking, and Dancing: The Gendered and Generational Nature of Social Lives | 90 Chapter Seven Individual Lives: Helping Create the Porteño Identity | 107 Conclusion | 121 Notes | 125 Bibliography | 140 Index | 153 Illustrations ~ figures 1. Cartoon showing options for Jewish immigrants in Argentina | 24 2. A gaucho and his horse under an ombu tree in an ad for Max Glücksmann’s record stores | 54 3. Advertisement for Max Glücksmann’s recording of the tango “Buenos Aires,” picturing tango legend Carlos Gardel | 57 4. Advertisement for Jacobo Waiss’s Cafés y Tés Sión store | 61 5. “Shul Impression,” cartoon illustrating changes in religion and traditional identities among Argentine Jews | 69 6. A man purchasing premade food from a dispenser at an automat | 72 7. A man serving himself a drink at an automat, excited by the novelty of the space | 72 8. A program for a dance and concert celebrating the twelfth anniversary of the Unión Israelita “Bessarabia” | 97 9. “How Summer Is Enjoyed,” cartoon from Far Groys un Kleyn | 102 ix

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Most books are stored in the elastic cloud where traffic is expensive. For this reason, we have a limit on daily download.