¿Intermediarios "naturales"?. Los judíos y el colonialismo occidental y español en el Mediterráneo musulmán: El caso de Marruecos

Maite Ojeda presenta la experiencia de los judíos del imperio otomano y del norte de África, sobretodo sefardíes, que desempeñaron el papel de mediadores entre los europeos y norteamericanos (cristianos) y la sociedad musulmana durante el siglo XIX y el primer tercio del siglo XX

La ciudadanía española y los sefardíes: identidades legitimadoras, ideologías étnicas y derechos políticos

A finales del 2012 el gobierno español anunciaba su intención de aprobar una ley destinada a facilitar el reconocimiento de la ciudadanía española a los sefardíes. Esta ley está actualmente en trámite parlamentario pendiente de su aprobación definitiva. En este texto abordo el marco histórico-político y simbólico-conceptual en el que se inserta. Asimismo confronto sus argumentos legitimadores con sus resultados concretos.Concluyo confirmando que la noción de “identidad sefardí” en España no tiene su origen en la propia autodefinición de los sefardíes. Por el contrario, esta noción de los sefardíes es producto del contexto político español contemporáneo. Esta construcción identitaria se usa como argumento legitimador en la adopción de determinadas políticas. Sin embargo, no es el motivo de la concesión de la ciudadanía española a los sefardíes. Estrategias políticas y diplomáticas, políticas etnicistas y “razones de Estado”, han guiado y guían la aproximación española a los sefardíes desde el siglo XIX. Palabras clave: España contemporánea, nacionalismo étnico, ciudadanía, sefardíes Abstract At the end of 2012 the Spanish government announced its intention to pass a law that would facilitate recognition of Spanish citizenship for Sephardic Jews. At this writing, the law is pending final parliamentary approval. This article focuses on the historico-political and symbolic-conceptual context in which this law is located, and compares the arguments in its defense with their concrete outcomes. It is concluded that the notion of “Sephardic identity” in Spain originates not in the way in which Sephardic Jews define themselves, but in the context of contemporary Spanish politics. Although this construction of Sephardic identity is used as a legitimating argument in the adoption of particular policies, it does not explain the decision to grant Spanish citizenship to the Sephardim. Political and diplomatic strategies, ethnic politics and “reasons of state” have shaped and continue to shape the relationship between Spain and the Sephardim since the 19th century. Keywords: contemporary Spain, ethnic nationalism, citizenship, Sephardi

LES JUIFS DU MAGHREB: NAISSANCE D’UNE HISTORIOGRAPHIE COLONIALE

Colette Zytnicki, Les Juifs du Maghreb: naissance d’une historiographie coloniale (2011), Paris: PUPS, 388 p

The Sephardim of North Morocco, Zionism and Illegal Emigration to Israel Through the Spanish Cities of Ceuta and Melilla

This text looks at the fuid intersection in the emergence and development of Zionism and the later Zionist-promoted emigration of Moroccan Jews to Israel from what was the Spanish Protectorate zone in Morocco and the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla in the north of Sherifan state. This process has received less attention from scholars than similar events in the French zone. However, it has some particularities that merit specifc attention. From the early years of contact between North Moroccan Jews and European Zionism, the strong cultural identity of the Sephardim in the region and the mobilization of a Spanish approach informed by philoSephardism marked an important diference with regard to the French zone in the reception of Zionism and the organization of emigration to Israel. Paradoxically, in the Spanish protectorate, such process resulted in the disappearance of important historic Sephardic centers like Tetouan, Larache, and Ksar-el-Kebir

Per una reflexió crítica sobre la noció de mestissatge

A través d'una anàlisi històrica i transcultural de l'Europa cristiana, el món jueu, àrab-musulmà, subsaharià, indígena americà i crioll, el projecte actual busca explicar l'origen, el procés, els sentits, les justificacions socials i culturals i els usos contemporanis del concepte de "mestissatge", l'espai social de les barreges i els ponts culturals, per desenvolupar una proposta des de l'antropologia històrica d'anàlisi dels mestissatges com a categories i com a fenòmens socioculturals.Through a transcultural and historical analysis of Christian Europe, Jewish, Arabic- Muslim, Subsaharian, American Indigenous and Creole Worlds, the current project is intended to explain the origin, process, meanings, social and cultural justifications and the current uses of "hybridation" concept. Also, the project tries to understand the social space and the barriers and cultural bridges for developing a proposal from the Historic Anthropology for these categories and those sociocultural phenomena

Moroccan Jewish Emigration in the Age of Independence Movement: A Reappraisal

From 1948 onwards, the Jews of the Arab world left the countries of their ancestors not to return. The bulk of these migrations, around six hundred thousand persons, settled in the newly created Jewish State of Israel, in ancient Palestine. Most of them were Moroccan Jews, as Moroccan Jewry was the biggest of the Arab world. Although motivations may seem obvious, the crash of two emerging and powerful opposite nationalisms, Arab and Jewish, several studies have already pointed out that the situation was much more complex. 2 The aim of this article is to avoid easy conclusions and to come as close as possible to the position of Jewish populations, in view of the Arab world's personal attitudes towards Zionism, the creation of the State of Israel, the emergence of Arab nationalism, and the independence claims of Arab countries. That is, it tries to understand how local Jewish populations were positioned, particularly in Morocco, in relation to the important political changes that were taking place in the North of Africa and the Middle East in the mid-XX th century: on one hand, the creation of the State of Israel and, on the other hand, the independence of the Maghreb countries. These ten years, in which nothing was written, determined the future of most of the Maghreb countries and their diverse populations

ELOGIO DE LA ANTROPOLOGÍA HISTÓRICA: ENFOQUES, MÉTODOS Y APLICACIONES AL ESTUDIO DEL PODER Y DEL COLONIALISMO

Alexandre Coello de la Rosa y Josep Lluís Mateo Dieste, Zaragoza: Universitat Oberta de Catalunya / Universidad de Zaragoza, 2016, 330 pp