Consortium for Latin American Jewish Studies (CLAJS)

University of Florida’s Bud Shorstein Center for Jewish Studies (USA), Brandeis University’s Initiative on the Jews of the Americas (USA), the University of Cologne’s Martin Buber Institute for Jewish Studies (Germany), Ben-Gurion University of the Negev’s Institute for the Study of Israel and Zionism (Israel), and Universidad Hebraica’s Jewish Studies Program have joined forces to advance the field of Latin American Jewish Studies. This consortium aims to promote interdisciplinary research and the study of Jewish experiences in Latin America within the broader hemispheric context of the Americas, including North, Central and South America, and the Caribbean.

By focusing on the dynamics of minority-majority ties within and beyond Jewish communities, we offer a multilayered perspective on local, national, and transnational networks. This includes reshaped homeland-diaspora dynamics, transnational ties across shared origins, and evolving identities influenced by historical memory, demographic shifts, and intersecting cultural dimensions. We seek to adopt a multilayered approach that integrates diverse perspectives from the intersection of Latin America, Israel, and Jewish and MENA (including Sephardi) studies.

In a broader theoretical sense, we aspire to reframe current understandings of diaspora politics by shifting the focus away from traditional divisions—such as the Ashkenazi/Sephardi and East/West dichotomies—and toward transnational ties and hierarchies that emerge among communities sharing similar origins in the "Old World" across the Americas, such as Polish or Syrian Jews in New York and Buenos Aires. We will also explore how homeland-diaspora dynamics are being reshaped, as Israel assumes an increasingly central and complex role—not merely as a geographical homeland but as a symbolic trope that forges solidarity or, at times, exacerbates divisions across the Americas. At the same time, Israel has become both a recipient and source of ongoing diaspora demographic shifts. Likewise, Spain’s enduring resonance as a homeland for Sephardi Jews on the move will provide a compelling lens for examining the interplay between historical memory and contemporary communities across the Americas that in recent generations have also seen a shift back across the Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea.

Current trends in dynamic Latin American Jewish communities will be examined through the lens of demographic shifts, shedding light on how these ongoing transformations influence hierarchies of belonging and self-representation, as well as by geopolitical, economic, and class dynamics. In this vein, it is important to emphasize that over ¼ of Latin American Jews currently live outside of the region, contributing to multi-layered expressions of Jewish identity and diaspora. Special attention will be given to the United States (primarily Florida), Europe and Israel, as major and fast-growing hubs for Jewish Latin Americans. We aim to expand the conversation by addressing intersecting topics such as gender, cinematic representations, art, media, social media, religion, and other cultural dimensions.

Led by Raanan Rein, Dalia Wassner, Matthias Lehmann, Aviad Moreno, and Daniel Fainstein, the consortium plans to hold an annual meeting, rotating between the partners of this consortium, sponsor joint research projects, encourage cutting-edge publications, and support graduate students.