September 2012
To:
Prof. Yeshayahu Arkin
Vice President and Chairman of the
Authority of Research and Development
The Hebrew University
Re: Report of academic activity of the Liwerant Center for the period 09/11-09/12
I hereby present the report of the academic activity of the Liwerant Center for the Study of Latin America, Spain, Portugal and their Jewish communities, from September 2011 to September 2012:
v Seminar of Interdisciplinary Study:
Principal subject of the interdisciplinary seminar:
"Trans-nationalism and Latin American Jews"
The seminar was organized by Dr. Leonardo Senkman and attended by around 30 young and veteran investigators from Social Sciences and Humanities from the Hebrew University and from other universities around the country. The seminar was held once every two weeks throughout the year and at every meeting one investigator presented his field of research. The goal was to consolidate a dynamic and interactive forum in order to promote the principal research project of the Center, and broaden the diverse aspects of the question of trans-nationalism of Latin American Jews. Moreover, the seminar provided an opportunity for group debate of the subject.
Seminars held during the academic year:
First semester:
1. 3 November, 2011: Prof. Mario Sznajder
Protest and democratization in Latin America: a transnational phenomenon?
Discussant: Daniel Schwarts.
2. 17 Novembre, 2011: Prof. Arie Kacowicz
Latin American recognition in a palestinien state: first assomptions
Discussant: Prof. Mario Sznajder.
3. 1 December, 2011: Prof. Raanan Rein
Jewish defense organization in Argentina of the sixties: a mirror image of anti-Semitic violence?
Discussant: Prof. Haim Avni.
4. 11 December, 2011: Visiting Professor, Dr. Vicente Palermo
(In collaboration with Truman Institute- The Latin American Unit):
Argentina post electoral: la política de las encrucijadas
5. 5 January, 2012: Martina Weisz (The Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Anti-Semitism)
Constructing identities: Jews and Muslims in contemporary Spain
Discussant: Prof. Robert Wistrich.
6. 19 January, 2012: The Center’s fellows presented their projects as part of the preparation towards the Center’s Workshop that took place on the 6th of March 2012. Participants: Dr. Yosi Goldstein, Dr. Margalit Bejarano, Dr. Batia Siebzehner, Dr. Marta Topel, Dr. Silvia Schenkolewski-Kroll, Florinda F. Goldberg, Dr. Efraim Zadoff, Dr. Silvina Schammah-Gesser.
Discussant: Prof. Mario Sznajder, Prof. Sergio DellaPergola, Dr. Leonardo Senkman.
Second semester:
* This semester lectures were considered as a 2 point course under the Department of Romance and Latin American Studies. Five students attended the course, and at the end of it each one of them had to submit a final paper.
7. 15 March, 2012: Prof. David Sheinin- Trent University
Saving Jorge Omar Merengo: Continuities and Cynicism in Argentine Human Rights Policies after 1983
Discussant: Prof. Mario Sznajder.
8. 22 March, 2012: Dr. Avraham Milgram- Yad Vashem
The ambivalence of the Portuguese authoritarian regime of Salazar towards the Jews
Discussant: Prof. Haim Avni.
9. 3 May, 2012: Dr. Yosi Goldstein
Transnationalism and Jewish Education: educators, Rabbis and Jewish professional community workers in a globalized world- between academic studies and community policy
Discussant: Prof. Zvi Bekerman.
10. 17 May, 2012: Orly Haimovich
Representations of Israel and Diaspora Jews during the Gaza War
Discourse analysis of the Venezuelan newspapers Vea and El Nacional
Discussant: Prof. Dov Shinar.
11. 24 May, 2012: Dr. Silvia Schenkolewski-Kroll
Transnational Zionist organizations in Latin America- the FACMA case
Discussant: Prof. Sergio DellaPergola.
12. 31 May, 2012: Florinda Goldberg
Pertenencias multiplicadas: escritores judeo-latinos en los Estados Unidos
Discussant: Edna Aizenberg- Marymount Manhattan College, visiting professor, Cathedra San Martin.
13. 14 June, 2012: Workshop in order to present selected chapters of the doctoral papers of the Liwerant Center’s scholars:
Fabian Galgovsky: Cambios curriculares y atomización de la red educativa judía en la Argentina. Estudio de caso: la red Zwischo/Escuelas Scholem Aleijem 1992-2004
Discussant: Dr. Yosi Goldstein, Dr. Efraim Zadoff.
Eduardo Torres: ¿Retorno o entrada primordial de/al judaísmo?
Identidades de frontera entre inmigrantes latinos en Israel (1990-2008)
Discussant: Dr. Margalit Bejarano, Prof. Sergio DellaPergola, prof. Yohanan Bar-Yafe.
Oshrit Zmora: Narrative space: Towards a theoretical model based on the work of Marco Denevi
Discussant: Dr. Daniel Blaustein, Dr. Leonardo Senkman.
* Seminar invitations appended herewith.
v Principal Research Project:
"Latin American Jews in a Transnational World: Redefinition and Relocation of Jewish Experiences and Identities on four Continents"
Globalization processes have brought to the creation of a new reality in the Ibero-American region. However, the impact of these changes on Jewish life and migration has yet to be profoundly assessed. Therefore, the objective of this project will be to examine the immigration of Latin American Jews to the four continents in the context of a trans-national world.
* Project abstract and full version appended herewith.
v Scholarships of the Center:
During the last academic year, the Liwerant Center granted 10 scholarships to advanced students of the Hebrew University, who focused their investigation on disciplinary fields related to the academic interests of the Center. The scholarship recipients of the Center study different disciplines such as- Communications, Education, Romance and Latin American Studies and Contemporary Jewry- forming a first generation of young investigators.
Scholars' names and their research proposals:
1. Fabian Galgovsky (Full Ph.D scholarship to the total of 10,000$, last year to the scholarship), research subject: New identities, new curriculum: Thecaseof the Scholem Aleijem School and Argentine Jewry after globalization.
2. Oshrit Zmora (Full Ph.D scholarship to the total of 10,000$, last year to the scholarship), research subject: Narrative space: Towards a theoretical model based on the work of Marco Denevi.
3. Eduardo Torres (Full Ph.D scholarship to the total of 10,000$, last year to the scholarship), research subject: Return or primordial entrance to Judaism: frontier identities between Latin American immigrants in Israel (1990-2008).
4. Orly Haimovich (Full Ph.D scholarship to the total of 10,000$, last year to the scholarship), research subject: Between local and global presentations Israel and Diaspora Jewish communities in Argentina’s, Mexico’s and Venezuela’s newspapers during the 2000′s.
5. Bat Ami Artzi (Presidential Ph.D scholarship to the total of 10,000$ third out of four years to the scholarship), research subject: How can we interpret feminine imagery in Pre-Colombian Art from the southern part of the Central Andes, 800 BC-1500 AD.
6. Maya Shorer-Kaplan (Full Ph.D scholarship to the total of 10000$, first year to the scholarship), research subject: Jewish identity between native lands: Uruguayan Jews in Uruguay, Israel and the world.
7. Amit Avigur (Half Ph.D scholarship to the total of 5,000$, first year to the scholarship), research subject: The Middle Classes and the Politics of Neoliberalism: Chile and Israel.
8. Liliana Lara-Singer (Half Ph.D scholarship to the total of 5,000$,) first year to the scholarship, research subject: Dislocations- space and discourse in the work of three contemporary Latin American immigrant writers (Mario Bellatin, Krina Ber and Marcelo Cohen).
9. Mara List-Avner (Ph.D scholarship to the total of 2,500$, one-time encouragement scholarship), research subject: The relations between Peru, Chile and their Jewish communities and the Israeli state, from the period of the Six-Day War to Yom Kippur War.
10. Daniel Wajner-Adler (MA scholarship to the total of 1,250$, one-time encouragement scholarship), research subject: Legitimidad y Transnacionalidad en América Latina: Red Transnacional de Apoyo ante la propuesta palestina de reconocimiento en la ONU.
* Abstracts and interim reports of the grantees appended herewith.
v Visitors of the Hebrew University and the Liwerant Center (in cooperation with the Department of Romance and Latin American Studies):
1. 24 November, 2011: Dr. Silvina Schammah-Gesser (Truman Institute, Liwerant Center’s fellow)
Consuming history, consuming culture in the 21st century Spain
The Case of Gernika/Guernica
Discussant: Dr. Leonardo Senkman.
2. 9 January, 2012: Prof. Andrés Malamud- Lisbon University
The Brazilian emergence Argentine decline? Prospects for South American Regionalism in the 21st century
Discussant: Prof. Arie Kacowicz.
3. 16 January, 2012: Dr. Susana Brauner- UADE university
Comparative identity of Halabies in Argentina and Mexico in the second half of the 20th century
Discussant: Dr. Margalit Bejarano.
4. 19 January, 2012: Dr. Marta Topel- São Paulo University, Brazil
Myths of origin, the Promised Land: The space and process in the three trans-nationalization Jewish religious communities of Saint Paul
Discussant: Prof. Mario Sznajder, Prof. Sergio DellaPergola and Dr. Leonardo Senkman.
5. 19 April, 2012: Dr. Debi Babis- Truman Institute
Governmental license lacking certificate, the Indian medicine in Bolivia of the 21st century
Discussant: Prof. Arie Kacowicz.
6. 1 May, 2012: Alejandro Higashi Díaz -Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana- Iztapalapa
Multiculturalismo contra nacionalismo: Recepción de Aura de Carlos Fuentes
Discussant: Dr. Daniel Blaustein.
7. 17 May, 2012: Prof. Alan Astro- Trinity University, Texas
Persistencia del Idish en Argentina: reflexiones comparativas con EE.UU y Canadá
8. 6 June, 2012: Prof. Edna Aizenberg- Marymount Manhattan College, NY
El Borges vedado o that's no way to read Borges
Discussant: Florinda Goldberg.
* The Center hosted the student Ariel Tcach as an intern between the months of February to July. During that period, Ariel was involved in the ongoing research conducted by the center on the subject of Transnationalism.
* Events invitations appended herewith.
v Book launch events (US)- “Belonging and Otherness. Jews in Latin America/ forty years of change”:
1. 27 October, 2011: The event took place at the University of Miami. It was co-sponsored by The Sue and Leonard Miller Center for Contemporary Judaic Studies, The Liwerant Center, UM's Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies and UM's Center for Latin American Studies. The shared conference was led by Prof. Judit Bokser Liwerant, Prof. Sergio DellaPergola and Dr. Margalit Bejarano.
v Conferences in collaboration with or under the auspices of the Liwerant Center:
1. 11-13 December, 2011: International conference- The emergence of Brazil as a global player. The conference was organized in collaboration with the Department of Romance and Latin American Studies and was led by Prof. James Green- visiting professor from Brown University. At the conference lectures:
a. Prof. Mario Sznajder
Human Rights and the legacy of Authoritarian regimes
Discussant: Prof. Arie Kacowicz
b. Dr. Leonardo Senkman
Brazil in the Americas
Discussant: Dr. Claudia Kedar
c. Prof. Sergio DellaPergola
The Brazilian Jewish community and Brazil’s new international role
Discussant: Dr. Yosi Goldstein
2. 21-23 May, 2012: International research conference in collaboration with the Department of Political science:
Protest Politics, Democratization, and Political Change: A Comparative Perspective
The Workshop was organized by Prof. Mario Sznajder, Prof. Avraham Sela and Dr. Eitan Alimi. In the workshop participated world renowned professors such as Jack Goldstone- George Mason University, US.
3. 30 May, 2012: Conference in the collaboration with the Department of Romance and Latin American Studies on the subject: Luso-Tropicalism and the Portuguese world: origins, impacts and legacies. The conference was organized by Prof. James Green.
4. 19 June, 2012: National conference for researchers and graduate students in the field of Iberian and Latin American studies. The conference was conducted by the Department of Romance and Latin American Studies under the auspices of the "La Asociación de Hispanistas de Israel", the Liwerant Center and the Truman Institute.
* Events invitations appended herewith
v Workshops in collaboration with or under the auspices of the Liwerant Center:
1. 6 March, 2012: Workshop at the Rabin Building on the subject of: Latin American Jews in a Transnational World: Identificational and Socio-cultural Change
At the Workshop that was organized by Prof. Judit Bokser Liwerant, Prof. Sergio DellaPergola and Dr. Leonardo Senkman, each of the Liwerant centers’ fellows had to present their research advancement.
2. 10 May, 2012: Workshop in which was given a shared conference by Prof. Mario Sznajder, Prof. Arie Kacowicz, Dr. Leonardo Senkman and the writer Ioram Melcer on the subject:
Roundtable Discussion on Falklands or Malvinas? 30 Years After the War
Discussant: Dr. Batia Siebzehner.
* Events invitations appended herewith
v Congresses and seminars offered by the Department of Romance and Latin American Studies in collaboration with or under the auspices of the Liwerant Center:
1. 14 November, 2011: The Opening event for the exhibition marking 100 years anniversary of the Peruvian author José María Arguedas. In the event lectured Prof. Yohanan Bar-Yafe on the life and work of Arguedas. Special guests who attended the event: Eliana Beraun- Counsellor of the Embassy of Peru in Israel, and Graciela Dyzenchauz- representative of the foundation “Amigos de la Universidad Hebrea de Jerusalén”.
2. 1 December, 2011: Brazil between tradition and modernity. An evening about Brazil organized by the Liwerant Center in order to promote the international conference on Brazil (see num. 3 below), and to provide a different point of view of Brazil as a country. The evening included a lecture about Capoeira, Brazilian music and tasting of the Brazilian cuisine.
3. 19 December, 2011: Discussion panel in honor of the translation of book "El llano en llamas", written by the known Mexican writer Juan Rulfo.
4. 28 March, 2012: Latin America Day, in collaboration with The Students Union and the Liwerant Center. The event included wide-ranging activities based on the different Latin American countries, followed by meeting of students with Latin American ambassadors.
5. 15 May, 2012: encounter with the international Portuguese Fado singer Cristina Branco. In the encounter participated the Dean of the Faculty of Humanities Reuven Amitai and Prof. Edwin Sarusi from the Department of Musicology.
6. 30 May, 2012: Award ceremony Raul Kirtchuk for the year 2012 to Ph.D. student Cynthia Gabbay. At the ceremony lectured Prof. Rubén Gallo (Rubén Gallo- Princeton University, Cátedra Rosario Castellanos) on the subject:
Octavio Paz, Lector de Freud
Discussant: Dr. Daniel Blaustein.
7. 3 June, 2012: Award ceremony Esther Seligson in which lectured Dr. Leonardo Senkman on the subject: A campo traviesa: los ensayos poéticos de Esther Seligson.
8. 10 June, 2012: Book donation of Benito Pérez Galdós in which lectured Yolanda Arancibia (La Casa-Museo Pérez Galdós de las Palmas de Gran Canarias), on the subject: El Galdós del siglo XX.
9. 21 June, 2012: An event in honor and memory of Dr. Bernardo Beiderman in which lectured Prof. Mario Sznajder and Dr. Leonardo Senkman on the subject: Perfil intelectual y comunitario del Dr. Bernardo Beiderman, penalista judeo-argentino-israelí.