Fragmented Identities: The Case of Former Soviet Jews in Toronto

Abstract

This article relates multiplicity and flexibility of ethnic identities to the following three aspects of postmodernity: (a) perpetual redefinition of self by reflexive individuals who constantly receive and evaluate new knowledge; (b) increased global interaction, which expands the number of alternatives for reflexive individuals to chose from; and (c) acceptance of ambivalence in the cultural field, which makes it possible for diverse cultural expressions to coexist. I further suggest that when some people question and redefine the meanings they assign to their ethnic identities, they may internalize the diversity and flexibility of the interpretations they encounter in the diasporic space and the resulting identities may become fragmented. This argument is illustrated by a case study of ethnic identities among former Soviet Jews residing in Toronto, Canada who had left the former Soviet Union in the late 1980s and early 1990s.