Jewish Israeli Migrants in Cape Town, South Africa
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CONSTRUCTING IDENTITY IN DIASPORA: JEWISH ISRAELI MIGRANTS IN CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA . Sally Frankental Thesis Presented for the Degree of UniversityDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY of Cape Town in the Department of Social Anthropology UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN March, 1998 r---~----~~~~~-==-~~~ The University of ~ Town hall been ~ .~ ' 1fw right to reproduce th!~ tllGS!I* tn vJOOie or Ia part. OJp}tright is held b~· the author. ------------------~-----J The copyright of this thesis vests in the author. No quotation from it or information derived from it is to be published without full acknowledgement of the source. The thesis is to be used for private study or non- commercial research purposes only. Published by the University of Cape Town (UCT) in terms of the non-exclusive license granted to UCT by the author. University of Cape Town .,.1;- ' · ·T 51o fRAN Cf~ /tiOCfb ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This work is indebted to the generosity of spirit ofthe informants who opened their homes, hearts and minds to me and were willing to share their doubts and fears as well as their joys - and their opinions. Their own concern with many of the themes addressed in this study encouraged me to see the project through to completion when, at times, my energy and resolve seemed to falter. The research was initially formulated under the supervision of Professor John Sharp, now of the University ofStellenbosch, and I thank him for his wise counsel, particularly in the early phase of the work. The project was completed under the supervision of Professor Pamela Reynolds whom I thank for her unfailing patience and her constructive criticism. I wish also to thank the participants in the Anthropology Seminar at the University of Cape Town, past and present, for creating and sustaining a forum conducive to the fruitful exchange of ideas. Particular thanks are due to the members of the 1995 graduate-student discussion group, whose joint critical abilities helped me regain focus when the complexity of .. the task at hand seemed overwhelming. They also provided some of the most intellectually •• stimulating conversations I have ever had the privilege to experience. Fiona Ross and Richard Mendelsohn generously made time in busy schedules to read earlier drafts. I am most grateful for their careful reading and insightful commentary. Special thanks are due to Milton Shain who gave unstintingly ofhis time, knowledge, and fine critical eye throughout the long process of producing this work, and whose moral support in no small measure ensured its completion. Special thanks are also due to Jenny Harris and Yigal Laskov without whose practical assistance and faith in me the task could not have been accomplished. Finally, my grateful thanks go to Tzvi, Amir and Yaron, my long-suffering husband and sons, for their patience, encouragement and support throughout. I wish to record my thanks to the Kaplan Centre for Jewish Studies and Research, • University of Cape Town, for the grant awarded me. The financial assistance of the Centre for Science Development (HSRC, South Africa) towards this research is hereby acknowledged. Opinions expressed in this work, or conclusions arrived at, are those of the author and are not to be attributed to the Centre for Science Development. •• •• 4~ - Sally Frankental Department of Social Anthropology University of Cape Town March, 1998 CONSTRUCTING IDENTITY IN DIASPORA: JEWISH ISRAELI MIGRANTS IN CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA ABSTRt~T This study was conducted through systematic participant-observation from July 1994 to December 1996. Basic socio-demographic data were recorded and revealed considerable ·heterogeneity within the population. Formal and informal interviews, three focus group interviews and (selected) informants' diaries provided additional material. The study examines the construction of identity in diaspora and explores the relationships of individuals to places, groups and nation-states. Jews are shown to be the most salient local social category and language, cultural style and a sense of transience are shown to be the most significant boundary markers. The migrants' sharpest differentiation from local Jews is manifested in attitudes towards, and practice of, religion. Whether a partner is South African or Israeli was shown to be the single most important factor influencing patterns of interaction. Most studies treat Israelis abroad as immigrants while noting their insistence on transiency. Such studies also emphasize ambivalence and discomfort. In a South Africa still deeply divided by race and class, the migrants' status as middle-class whites greatly facilitates their integration. Their strong and self-confident identification as Israeli and their ongoing connectedness to Israeli society underlines distinctiveness. The combination of engagement with the local while maintaining distinctiveness, as well as past familiarity with multicultural and multilingual reality is utilized to negotiate the present, and results in a lived reality of 'comfortable contradiction' in the present. This condition accommodates multi-locality, multiple identifications and allegiances, and a simultaneous sense of both permanence and transience. The migrants' conflation of etlu:llc-religious and 'national' dimensions of identification (Jewishness and Israeliness), born in a particular societal context, leads, paradoxically, to distinguishing between membership of a nation and citizenship of a state. this distinction, it is argued, together with the migrants' middle-class status, further facilitates the comfortable contradiction of their transmigrant position. It is argued that while their instrumental engagement with diaspora and their understanding of responsible citizenship resembles past patterns of Jewish migration and adaptation, the absence of specifically Israeli (ethnic) communal structures suggests a departure from past patterns. The migrants' confidence in a sovereign independent nation-state and in their own identity, removes the sense of vulnerability that permeates most diaspora Jewish communities. These processes enable the migrants to live as 'nom1alized' Jews in a post-Zionist, post-modern, globalized world characterized by increasing electronic connectedness, mobility and hybridity. The ways in which the migrants in this study have negotiated and defined their place in the world suggests that a strong national identity is compatible with a cosmopolitan orientation to multicultural reality. II TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................· ............................................................... .i ABSTRACT ................................................................................................ ii CHAPTERS INTRODUCTION: Contextualizing The Study ........................................................ 1 1 JEWISH ISRAELIS AS MIGRANTS, ISRAELI MIGRANTS AS JEWS: A Review of Selected Literature ............................................................... 11 2 SITUATING SELF, METHODOLOGY, AND PARTIALPROFILE OF THE RESEARCH POPULATION ................................................................... 31 3 DEPARTURE AND ARRIVAL: SETTLERS OR SOJOURNERS? ...... '.............. .47 4 BOUNDARY MARKING AND STEREOTYPING: THE CONSTRUCTION OF DIFFERENCE ................................................................................... 89 5 EVERYDAY-DIFFERENCE AND THE MEANING OF HOME' ..................... 132 6 SHIFTING NETWORKS: ETHNICITY IN LOCAL CONTEXT ..................... 164 7 CONCLUSIONS: Towards the 21st Century: Reflections on 'Transnationalism' and Multiculturalism .......................................................................... 209 Postscript ................................................................................................ 228 BIBLIOGRAPHY ...................................................................................... 229 iii I, ;I LIST OF TABLE Table Page 1. Total Immigrants and Israeli Immigrants to South Africa, 1950 - 1996 ................. 7 2. Israeli Migrants to and from South Africa, 1950 - 1996 .................................... 8 2.1 Adult Israeli Population by Gender, Year of Arrival and Age at Arrival, Cape Town, 1996 ............................................................................... 42 2.2 Year of Arrival and Age at Arrival, Cape Town Sample 1985 and Cape Town Population 1996. (Percentages) ............................................................... 43 2.3 Adult IsraeliPopulation by Gender and Country of Birth, Cape Town, 1996 .................................................................................43 2.4 Citizenship of 320 Adult members of Israeli Households, Cape Town, 1996 ............................................................................... 44 2.5 Religion and Citizenship of 136 Spouses/Partners, by Gender, Cape Town, 1996 ............................................................................... 45 2.6 Children in Israeli Households, by Age and Country of Birth, Cape Town, 1996 ................................................... ·............................ 46 2. 7 Children oflsraeli Migrants NOT in Households in 1996 .............................. .46 3.1 Adult Research Population by Year of Arrival and Years of Education, Cape Town 1996 ....................... ·........................................................ 52 3.2 Occupations ofEconomicallyActive Israelis by Year of Arrival and Gender, Cape Town, 1996 ..................................................... , ........................ 53 3.3 Economically Active South