Immigrant intelligentsia and its second generation: Cultural segregation as a road to social integration?

Abstract

This article deals with the recent wave of migration from the former USSR to Israel analyses immigrant intelligentsias strategies of action in the public sphere. The authors argument is that by adopting a seemingly separatist course of action and founding educational cultural scientific, and political institutions inspired by traditions brought from the country of origin, what the immigrants actually do is try to integrate themselves into the host society as its distinctive but equal members. Thus it is the strategy of cultural segregation that enables the immigrant intelligentsia to occupy its own place in the multicultural mosaic of contemporary Israeli society. Cet article traite de la derni~re vague de migration venue de l' ancienne URSS ~ destination d'Isra~l. On y analyse les actions stratdgiques de l'dlite intellectuelle immigrante dans le de'bat public. Les auteurs sont d' avis qu'en adoptant un plan d" action M-,paratiste, en apparence, et en crdant des institutions pddagogiques, culturelles, sdentifiques et politiques inspirdes par les traditions apportdes du pays d' origine, Ies immigrants essaient en rrde s'intdgrer dans la socidtd d' accueil ?l titre de membres distincts mais ~gaux. C" est donc la stratdgie de s~grdgation culturelle qui permet ?z l'dlite intellectuelle immigrante de prendre la place qui lui revient dans la mosa~que multiculturelle de la socidtd isradlienne contemporaine.

Resetting the rules of the game: Language preferences and social relations of work between Russian immigrants and veteran professionals in an Israeli organization

“…In the cultural realm, adult Russian speakers manifest strong adherence to their language and cultural heritage, resisting attempts at'Israelization' (Epstein & Kheimets, 2000a;Kheimets & Epstein, 2001b;Zilberg, 2000). The continuity of Russian culture in Israel draws on two related sources: transnational links with the FSU and other countries of the Russian-Jewish diaspora (Remennick, 2002) and creation of a versatile internal Israeli-Russian cultural and media market.…”

What does integration mean? social insertion of Russian immigrants in Israel

“…Below I outline a heuristic framework (a number of measurable social indicators) for the study of integration based on current research in repatriate communities of Israel (Leshem & Lissak, 1999;Epstein & Kheimets, 2000;Remennick, 2002aRemennick, , 2002b and Germany (Tress, 1997;Nauck, 2001). I suggest four interrelated social indicators that allow operative measurement of the extent of integration/acculturation among first-generation immigrants.…”

“…The clear divide between formal and informal networks seems to be a universal facet of immigrant experience. Many researchers also agree that the gradual inclusion of locals in immigrants'personal social networks is an important indicator of an ongoing integration process (Remennick, 1999;Epstein & Kheimets, 2000;Steinbach, 2001;Portes & Rumbaut, 2001). A similar divide between formal and informal networks was found in this study.…”

“…Unable and unwilling to join the Hebrew-based cultural mainstream any time soon (Epstein & Kheimets, 2000), Russian-speakers have created a multifaceted cultural world of their own, including tens of newspapers and magazines; three radio stations; several cable TV channels transmitted from Russia; and a network of clubs, libraries, theatres, and other outlets that allow immigrants to enjoy cultural life in their native language and style. In the area of education, Russian immigrant teachers have founded a national network of Mofet (excellence in Hebrew) schools to ensure higher standards of teaching in math, physics, and Russian language and literature for the immigrant students.…”

“…Historically, every new wave of Jewish repatriates to Israel has received its share of negative labelling, if not sheer discrimination, from those who arrived earlier (Leshem & Lissak, 1999). Veteran Israelis were largely disappointed by the last-wave Russian Aliyah because of its pragmatic, non-ideological nature and Olim's apparent unwillingness to enter the Israeli "melting pot," exemplified by their refusal to switch to Hebrew (Epstein & Kheimets, 2000). Beside their failure to meet the Zionist ideal, the mass influx of Russian Jews caused soaring housing costs and competition for scarce jobs, which never endears the newcomers to the locals, individually or collectively (Lissak & Leshem, 1995;Leshem & Lissak, 1998).…”