The Dynamics of Jewish Latino Relationships

"Kevane provides us an appealing, kaleidoscopic, and much needed introduction to the palpable, elusive, and varied relationships of Jews and Hispanics in the United States. Her mix of scholarship and personal journalism brings humane, everyday insight to this important but almost invisible world of cross-cultural understandings (and misunderstandings)." - Robert H. Abzug, Director, Schusterman Center for Jewish Studies, Audre and Bernard Rapoport Regents Chair of Jewish Studies, and Professor of History and American Studies, University of Texas at Austin, USA

"Hope and Caution illustrates the conceptual and methodological point that ethnicity, with its rich cultural content cannot be presumed a priori, but rather must be treated as the object of empirical comparative investigation. Ethnicity as a marker of 'common ground' is lived and negotiated in historically specific and collective ways, and always relationally. Focusing on the relationship between the US Jewish and Latino communities, Kevane's work shows how Latino and Jewish perceptions of one another, their sense of shared histories, struggles, and interests result in large part from simultaneously racialized and classed constructions. This book is an insightful contribution to those interested in the dynamics of race, ethnicity, and class, as well as those interested in the intersection of religion and politics." - Marta Maldonado-Pabon, Professor of Sociology and US Latino/a Studies, Oregon State University, USA

"Kevane is attempting an ambitious and pioneering work of cultural scholarship, based in part on her own experiences of being, and feeling herself to be, of mixed heritage, and in part on her research into the Jewish-Hispanic efforts at political coalition in the US. The book is daring, ambitious, and original. At the root of the study is her own multicultural heritage: a Jewish mother of shy Jewish affiliation; an Irish-Catholic father of tepid Catholic affiliation, and a Spanish-speaking childhood in Puerto Rico where she spent her early years. It is a fascinating story and highly original." - Mark Shechner Professor Emeritus of English, State University of New York, Buffalo,USA

"Finally, a savvy, informed, thought-provoking if also long overdue invitation to think about Jewish-Latino relations in historical, social, demographic, and political context; not as a remote possibility but as a tangible reality. Kevane's wide-raging intelligence and gusto de vivir are apparent on every page. She confirms that an aggregated identity isn't an anachronism but a surplus." - Ilan Stavans, author of On Borrowed Words (2002) and Quixote: The Novel and the World (2015), and editor of The Norton Anthology of Latino Literature (2010)

"Kevane's clear, graceful writing and forthright tone guide the reader through today's complex landscape of racial-ethnic identities in the United States. Presenting cases of what at first glance are disparate groups on opposite ends of the assimilation spectrum, she deftly uncovers parallel and intertwined histories of migration and diaspora, injury and marginalization. Through the creative deployment of an array of sources, she provides a window into the historic and ongoing struggles of Jews and Latinos for admission into the 'circle of us' of 'mainstream America.' Kevane instructs us on how contemporary public discussions about Latino-ness and Jewish-ness reflect deeper and evolving meanings of race, whiteness and ethnicity in a society on the cusp of becoming a 'majority-minority.' She shows us the commonalities of experience and struggles that lay the groundwork for alliances between Jews and Latinos. The underlying message is one of hope. Beyond a study of inter-ethnic relations, this is a primer on what it means to be 'American' in the twenty-first century." - Jennifer Bickham Mendez, author of From the Revolution to the Maquiladoras: Gender, Labor and Globalization in Nicaragua (2005) and co-editor of Border Politics: Social Movements, Collective Identities and Globalization (2014)