In a Latin Key: New Perspectives on Israeli Migration through Latin American and Iberian Lenses

About the Workshop

Despite significant growth, scholarship on Israelis abroad remains centered on a relatively narrow set of destinations, questions and interpretive frameworks.

Research has largely focused on major hubs such as the United States and large European cities. Far less attention has been paid to newer destinations beyond North America and Western Europe, inviting us to rethink about notions of layered diasporic space, circular and onward migration, strategic citizenship and relational positioning within broader transnational social fields.

Iberia and Latin America, including wider transregional spaces characterized by Latin American presence (such as Florida), offer especially productive terrain for such a rethinking, illuminating how Israeli mobility is reconfigured through local regimes of race, religion and communal belonging.

This workshop proposes diversification in both geographic and analytical terms. It shifts attention to understudied sites such as Iberia, Latin America, the Mediterranean, and Florida, while placing Israeli migration in conversation with Global South approaches, race and racialization, Jewish diversity, citizenship, memory, religion, class and cultural studies.

Call for Proposals

Possible themes include:

Israeli migration to Iberia, Latin America, and Latino diasporic spaces beyond Latin America (e.g. the USA); Sephardi repatriation and citizenship regimes; race, whiteness, and racial repositioning; Mizrahi, Sephardi, and other intra-Jewish dynamics outside Israel; low-income and non-metropolitan Israeli enclaves; religious and pilgrimage-driven mobilities; digital nomadism, circular and loop migration; post–October 7 movements around the Mediterranean; intersections between Israeli migration and other diasporas; and the migration of non-Jewish citizens of Israel in relation to broader regional and global migration histories.

We particularly encourage proposals that engage overlooked geographies, comparative approaches, and interdisciplinary methods.

Process:

Submit a title, abstract of up to 200 words, and a brief CV to Raanan Rein and Aviad Moreno.

Deadline:

All proposals should be submitted by May 18, 2026.

Acceptance:

Notifications of acceptance will be sent by June 15, 2026.

Papers will be pre-circulated among all participants by December 1, 2026.