Judaism in the Amazon, a Frontier Space of the Sephardic Culture and Customs

Abstract

This study approaches the reality of Sephardic Jews in the Brazilian Amazon from the perspective of the preservation of customs emanating from religion in a new environment and motivated by the diasporic movement. Included in the analyses is the concept of cultural translation and the notion of in-between place. The study presents a brief historical retrospective of populational displacements which provoked resignifications resulting from the immigration process and intercultural contacts. As theoretical contributions, we have adopted the studies produced by Bhabha (1990, 2007); Derrida (2002); Buden and Nowotny (2009) on translation; and deconstruction and Benchimol’s (1998) and Heller’s (2010) works on Sephardic Jews in the Amazon, among others. The reflections ensued lead us to the perception of a dualism that opposes essentialism vs. hybridism – evident, respectively, in religious practices and Jewish customs that are justified by the motivational factors: survival and resistance.