Return to Sepharad: Is it possible to heal an ancient wound? A reflection on the construction of large-group identity

Abstract

Spanish parliament recently issued a new law offering Spanish nationality to Sephardic Jews who so desired and could demonstrate a basic knowledge of the Spanish language and culture. This law attempted to redress a five-centuries-old injustice and was expected to unleash both criticism and praise. Surprisingly, reactions in the public or the press were minimal or absent. Reasons for this are explored through a qualitative study with focus groups, which showed ideas that can be grouped into four main categories: ignorance, justice, distrust, and fear. It is hypothesized that the predominantly silent response to the new law might be due to the fact that it touches on an extremely sensible issue: the historically fragmented Spanish identity. A position of negation is constructed, to avoid deep anxieties related to the fragile core of a collective identity built from many “others” forced to the refuge of an introspection that protects them from the conviction of not fulfiling the ideal identity status, known by all but reached by none. All those “others” have mixed their bloods with the Old Christians along the centuries, possibly transmitting a profound insecurity about their personal and collective identity that might contribute to understanding current social reactions.

Key words:

• large-group identity
• memory
• identity core

Acknowledgement

We are grateful to Ian Miller PhD (Trinity College, Dublin) for providing an important bibliographic suggestion.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Miguel Angel Gonzalez-Torres

Authors

Miguel Angel Gonzalez-Torres, MD, PhD, is a training analyst at the Centro Psicoanalítico de Madrid and also works at the Department of Neuroscience of the University of the Basque Country and the Psychiatry Service of Basurto University Hospital, Bilbao, Spain. His main clinical and research interests are psychosis and personality disorder, especially psychoanalytic approaches to these problems.

Aranzazu Fernandez-Rivas

Aranzazu Fernandez-Rivas MD, PhD, is a child and adolescent psychiatrist and psychotherapist and also works at the Department of Neuroscience of the University of the Basque Country and the Psychiatry Service of Basurto University Hospital, Bilbao, Spain. Her clinical work and research activities focus on conduct and personality disorders in adolescents.