Reparative Citizenship for Sephardi Descendants

Dalia Kandiyoti is Professor of English at the City University of New York, College of Staten Island. She is the author of The Converso’s Return: Conversion and Sephardi History in Contemporary Literature and Culture (Stanford University Press, 2020), Migrant Sites: America, Place, and Diaspora Literatures (Dartmouth College/University Press of New England, 2009), and numerous articles on contemporary Sephardi, Latinx, and migration/diaspora literatures.

“Reparative Citizenship for Sephardi Descendants is a thorough, thoughtful, and empathetic exploration of the many issues that surround the 2015 Spanish and Portuguese nationality laws and the choice, on the part of individual Jews of Sephardi descent and conversos, to pursue (or eschew) this option. In this fascinating and compelling collection, editors Kandiyoti and Benmayor have gathered an astonishing range of perspectives on the historical, emotive, sociological, and political dynamics that underlie the Sephardi quest for “reparative citizenship.”” • Sarah Abrevaya Stein, UCLA“Kandiyoti and Benmayor's volume brings together the legal and emotional repercussions of a return to Spain and Portugal for Sephardic Jews. Beautifully intermingling questions of expulsion, exclusion and reparation, Reparative Citizenship for Sephardi Descendants treats readers to a nuanced and multifaceted examination of Sephardim. By melding personal essays with rigorous academic studies, the editors have compiled a book that speaks to the heart and mind while addressing the discomfiting realities of an invitation six hundred years in the making.” • Sara J. Brenneis, Amherst College

• List of IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Sephardi Jews, Citizenship, and Reparation in Historical ContextDalia Kandiyoti and Rina BenmayorPart I: Reparation and Reconciliation? Legal and Political Perspectives on the 2015 LawsChapter 1. “Reparative Citizenship”: Confronting Injustices of the Past or Building Modern Nationalisms?Alfons AragonesesChapter 2. Beyond Reparatory Justice: The Portuguese “Law of Return” as Nation BrandingIsabel David and Gabriela Anouck Côrte-Real PintoChapter 3. Reparations in Spanish Parliamentary Debates about the 2015 Nationality Law for Descendants of Sephardi JewsDavide AlibertiChapter 4. Personal Essay: Passport to the Past, Passport to the FutureColette CaprilesPart II: Roots of “Returns”: Early Uses of Jewish and Muslim HistoryChapter 5. “Spaniards We Were, Spaniards We Are, and Spaniards We Will Be”: Salonica’s Sephardic Jews and the Instrumentalization of the Spanish Past, 1898–1944Devin E. NaarChapter 6. “Spanish Jews” and “Friendly Muslims”: The Historical Absence of a Citizenship Campaign for Muslims of Iberian DescentElisabeth Bolorinos AllardChapter 7. Personal Essay: The Story of a Spanish DönmeUluç ÖzüyenerPart III: Negotiating the Present: Between States and Official CommunitiesChapter 8. Moriscos Andalusíes: Historical Reparation, Reconciliation, and the Duty of MemoryElena Arigita and Laura GaliánChapter 9. Negotiating Historical Redress: The Spanish Law of Nationality for Sephardi Descendants and Spain’s Jewish CommunitiesDaniela Flesler and Michal Rose FriedmanChapter 10. Personal Essay: “Congratulations, You Are Portuguese!” Reflections on Identity and NationalityRita EnderChapter 11. Personal Essay: Sefarad PostponedRuth BeharPart IV: Sephardi Descendants: Emotions, Identities, and BureaucraciesChapter 12. “La Nostalgia de Sefarad Tira Mucho, Pero No Tanto”: Attachment, Sentiment, and the Ethics of RefusalCharles A. McDonaldChapter 13. Affective Citizenship and Iberian Sephardi DescendantsRina BenmayorChapter 14. Descendants of Conversos in the Americas: The Ancestral Past, Sephardi Identity, and Citizenship in Spain and PortugalDalia KandiyotiChapter 15. Portuguese Citizenship for Brazilian Descendants of Sephardic Jews: A NetnographyMarina PignatelliAppendix: Certifying Origins for Sephardic Descendants in Portugal: A Snapshot of the Evaluation ProcessTeresa Santos and Heraldo BentoChapter 16. Personal Essay: The Fez in the Water—Exile and ReturnVictor SilvermanCoda: Directions in Citizenship and Historical RepairDalia Kandiyoti and Rina BenmayorIndex