Crossing Borders, Claiming a Nation
A History of Argentine Jewish Women, 1880–1955
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Duke University Press
Published:13th Jul '10
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
Historical analysis of Jewish women's role in Argentina from the late 19th through the first half of 20th century, arguing that they crossed racial, gender-based, and ideological boundaries as they helped shape the nation.
This history of Jewish women in Argentina explores their settlement in the city and countryside, and their professional and intimate lives, political activism, and community involvement.In Crossing Borders, Claiming a Nation, Sandra McGee Deutsch brings to light the powerful presence and influence of Jewish women in Argentina. The country has the largest Jewish community in Latin America and the third largest in the Western Hemisphere as a result of large-scale migration of Jewish people from European and Mediterranean countries from the 1880s through the Second World War. During this period, Argentina experienced multiple waves of political and cultural change, including liberalism, nacionalismo, and Peronism. Although Argentine liberalism stressed universal secular education, immigration, and individual mobility and freedom, women were denied basic citizenship rights, and sometimes Jews were cast as outsiders, especially during the era of right-wing nacionalismo. Deutsch’s research fills a gap by revealing the ways that Argentine Jewish women negotiated their own plural identities and in the process participated in and contributed to Argentina’s liberal project to create a more just society.
Drawing on extensive archival research and original oral histories, Deutsch tells the stories of individual women, relating their sentiments and experiences as both insiders and outsiders to state formation, transnationalism, and cultural, political, ethnic, and gender borders in Argentine history. As agricultural pioneers and film stars, human rights activists and teachers, mothers and doctors, Argentine Jewish women led wide-ranging and multifaceted lives. Their community involvement—including building libraries and secular schools, and opposing global fascism in the 1930s and 1940s—directly contributed to the cultural and political lifeblood of a changing Argentina. Despite their marginalization as members of an ethnic minority and as women, Argentine Jewish women formed communal bonds, carved out their own place in society, and ultimately shaped Argentina’s changing pluralistic culture through their creativity and work.
“The publication of Sandra McGee Deutsch’s Crossing Borders, Claiming a Nation marks a major contribution to the history of Jews in Argentina as well as to women’s history. Her nuanced and engaging stories of women from the right, the left, and the center of the Argentine Jewish community and their efforts to distinguish themselves beyond the realm of hearth and home represents the first major monograph on Jewish women in the Southern Hemisphere.” - Donna Guy, H-Judaic, H-Net Reviews
“Based on a wide variety of primary and secondary sources, written documents and oral history, this book is highly recommended to anyone interested in Latin American ethnic studies or in the history of women in this region. It will be particularly helpful to students and scholars of Jewish Latin America.” - Raanan Rein, Hispanic American Historical Review
“Sandra McGee Deutsch’s book is a pioneering contribution to Latin American histories of immigration and state formation; it represents the first scholarly monograph to tell the story of immigrant women of any background in the region…. This is a fascinating and highly readable book that should inspire new research to determine just how exceptional Jewish Argentine women really were, and how their stories of national belonging compare to those of other immigrant and women’s groups in Latin America.”
- Jadwiga E. Pieper Mooney, American Historical Review
“I found this book almost impossible to put down. It is written in clear and elegant language, with a balance of historical archival research and personal oral histories… Her book is a magnificent historical meditation that explores a variety of topics in nation-building narratives, ranging from the roles of Jewish women in rural areas and their participation in establishing farms and communities to the roles of urban women in education, politics, and the arts… I am certain that this exemplary book will be a model for future historians interested in gender studies of immigration and Judaism, as well as the specific experience of Jewish women in Argentina… It is the work of a passionate and brilliant historian who is at the same time objective, accurate, deeply personal, and deeply human.” - Marjorie Agosin, The Outlook
“Crossing Borders, Claiming a Nation is a pioneering work, providing historical analysis of the multidimensional experiences of Jewish women in Argentina. It is a valuable and original piece of scholarship.”—Mariano Plotkin, author of Mañana es San Perón: A Cultural History of Perón’s Argentina
“Sandra McGee Deutsch has written a remarkable book, filled with compelling details and prodigious analysis, rich oral histories and archival research. The stories she tells come alive in ways no other scholar has achieved. Crossing Borders, Claiming a Nation is poised to become a classic.”—Temma Kaplan, author of Taking Back the Streets: Women, Youth, and Direct Democracy
“Based on a wide variety of primary and secondary sources, written documents and oral history, this book is highly recommended to anyone interested in Latin American ethnic studies or in the history of women in this region. It will be particularly helpful to students and scholars of Jewish Latin America.” -- Raanan Rein * Hispanic American Historical Review *
“I found this book almost impossible to put down. It is written in clear and elegant language, with a balance of historical archival research and personal oral histories… Her book is a magnificent historical meditation that explores a variety of topics in nation-building narratives, ranging from the roles of Jewish women in rural areas and their participation in establishing farms and communities to the roles of urban women in education, politics, and the arts… I am certain that this exemplary book will be a model for future historians interested in gender studies of immigration and Judaism, as well as the specific experience of Jewish women in Argentina… It is the work of a passionate and brilliant historian who is at the same time objective, accurate, deeply personal, and deeply human.” -- Marjorie Agosin * Outlook *
“Sandra McGee Deutsch’s book is a pioneering contribution to Latin American histories of immigration and state formation; it represents the first scholarly monograph to tell the story of immigrant women of any background in the region…. This is a fascinating and highly readable book that should inspire new research to determine just how exceptional Jewish Argentine women really were, and how their stories of national belonging compare to those of other immigrant and women’s groups in Latin America.”
-- Jadwiga E. Pieper Mooney * American Historical Review *
“The publication of Sandra McGee Deutsch’s Crossing Borders, Claiming a Nation marks a major contribution to the history of Jews in Argentina as well as to women’s history. Her nuanced and engaging stories of women from the right, the left, and the center of the Argentine Jewish community and their efforts to distinguish themselves beyond the realm of hearth and home represents the first major monograph on Jewish women in the Southern Hemisphere.” -- Donna Guy H-Judaic * H-Net Reviews *
ISBN: 9780822346579
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: 708g
396 pages